TURKMENISTAN: SENIOR RFE/RL REPORTER CONFIRMS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ASHGABAT 000807

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/CEN, DRL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/27/2018
TAGS: PGOV PHUM TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: SENIOR RFE/RL REPORTER CONFIRMS
ARREST AND DETENTION OF SAZAK DURDYMURADOV

REF: ASHGABAT 0803

Classified By: CDA RICHARD E. HOAGLAND: 1.4 (b),(d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL)
reporter Halmurat Gylychdurdiyev has confirmed recent reports
that a Turkmen contributor to the Azatlyk radio program has
been arrested and tortured by the MNB. Sazak Durdymuradov, a
school teacher for 35 years, focused his contributions to
RFE/RLon serious problems in public education and on
corruption. Gylychdurdiyev suggested that he may have chosen
to challenge authorities based on his perception that the
government was softening its policy on freedom of expression.
In addition, Gylychdurdiyev belived Durdymuradov's position
as a longtime government employee may have played a role in
the MNB's decision to engage in severe measures to persuade
him to end his reporting. While the government always has
been suspicious of the activities of RFE/RL contributors in
Turkmenistan, this case reflects a sharp escalation in how
the authorities deal with these individuals. On June 26, the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed no knowledge of this
case. END SUMMARY.


2. (C) Poloff met with RFE/RL reporter Halmurat
Gylychdurdiyev on June 26 to gather additional information
about the arrest and alleged torture of Sazak Durdymuradov,
described in a June 24 RFE/RL report. Durdymuradov is a 60
year old resident of Baharden, a small town some 100
kilometers northwest of Ashgabat. He has been a public
school teacher there for 35 years, most recently teaching
history. He is affiliated with RFE/RL, sometimes acting as a
moderator for the news service's round table topical public
opinion discussions, which are organized by RFE/RL's Prague
office, recorded, and broadcast on its Turkmen language
program, Radio Azatlyk.


3. (C) More recently, Durdymuradov, convinced by state-run
press that the environment in Turkmenistan was becoming more
tolerant and receptive to public opinion, criticism, and
dialogue, began producing radio reports on corruption, the
progress and direction of democratization and human rights,
and serious problems in the public education system. In a
recent roundtable discussion broadcast by the radio program
and moderated from Prague, Durdymuradov spoke positively of
President Berdimuhamedov's reform efforts, and argued that
the current political environment is much more open and that
people are not afraid to express their opinions like they
were under the previous president. The phone line was cut
during the discussion.


4. (C) The local police came to Durdymuradov's house on
June 20 and insisted he come with them for questioning.
According to Durdymuradov's wife, the local police told her
they had been tasked with apprehending him and turning him
over to Ministry of National Security (MNB) officers, who
took him to a psychiatric hospital in Abadan City, just
outside Ashgabat. His wife tracked him down at the Abadan
hospital, where she was able to see him briefly. She said
that he appeared at that time to have been severely beaten.
She claimed he told her that he had been tortured in numerous
ways, including by having needles shoved under his finger
nails, and his feet burned with hot wire, with the goal of
forcing him to sign a statement promising to stop working for
RFE/RL. He refused. According to Gylychdurdiyev,
Durdymuradov also told his wife that he was "not the whole
man" he had been before his arrest.


5. (C) His wife said that when she attempted to visit him
at the Abadan hospital again on June 21, she was told the MNB
officers had taken him out of the facility. She learned he
had been taken to the MNB's regional detention facility not
far from Baharden. She was able to see him on June 24, and
he told her at that time that he would go on a hunger strike.
Later that same day, she learned he was to be relocated

ASHGABAT 00000807 002 OF 003


again, to an isolated psychiatric hospital in Lebap Province.
Gylychdurdiyev thinks that if this is true, he has been
taken to the Uzinboy psychiatric hospital, where other
political oppositionists have been incarcerated in the past.
Durdymuradov's son had no news as of June 26 about his
father's location or health condition, according to
Gylychdurdiyev. Gylychdurdiyev noted that because the
Durdymuradov's cell phone has been cut off, Gylychdurdiyev
himself is the only reporter that now has connectivity with
the radio service's offices in Prague.


6. (C) Gylychdurdiyev speculated that the MNB had arrested
and tortured Durdymuradov because he had collaborated with
RFE/RL in providing regional reports and public opinion, but
just as much because he was a lifelong Turkmen government
employee collaborating with an organization the government
considers to be a threat to national security. Believing the
political environment had changed in Turkmenistan this year,
he had even posted his reporting in his own name rather than
a pseudonym.


7. (C) Since we first became aware of this case, the Charge
has tried to see Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov to present a
demarche, ask for an explanation, and to call for humane
treatment of Durdymuradov. Meredov has been unavailable for
many reasons (reftel),not the least because of the large
Russian advance team in Ashgabat preparing for President
Meredov's July 4-6 visit to Turkmenistan. Late on June 26,
Charge met with Foreign Ministry America's Director Serdar
Bashimov, apprised him of the situation, left a copy of the
demarche (text in para eight below),and copies of the RFE/RL
June 24 press release and the subsequent June 25 New York
Times article. Bashimov looked abashed and claimed the
Foreign Ministry had no knowledge of this issue. In lieu of
the unavailable foreign minister, Charge met with First
Deputy Foreign Minister Wepa Hajiyev on June 27. They
discussed the case and its larger implications in great
detail. Hajiyev said, though previously unaware of the
details of the case, he takes it with utmost seriousness and
would discuss it with Foreign Minister Meredov the same day.
He noted that he himself just spent several days with the EU
Human Rights delegation visiting Ashgabat and is keenly aware
of Turkmenistan's international image and what needs to be
done. He said he wanted to assure us that President
Berdimuhamedov does not want empty words about human rights;
he wants actions. The Charge urged Turkmenistan to take
immediate action on this case and release Durdymuradov.


8. BEGIN TEXT OF EMBASSY DEMARCHE:

Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) has reported to us and to Washington
that one of its contributors, Sazak Durdymuradov, who lives
in Bakharden District of Ahal Province, was seized by the
police on June 20 and was taken to a Ministry of National
Security facility, where he was detained for three days and
allegedly tortured, reportedly for refusing to sign a
statement that he agreed to stop reporting for RFE/RL.
According to the RFE/RL information, Durdymuradov is now in a
psychiatric clinim in Lebap Province, where he has started a
hunger strike.

We have no reason to doubt the general accuracy of this
report. It represents a serious increase in the pattern of
harassment that already exists against RFE/RL reporters and
contributors, including: cutting the telephone lines of at
least four RFE/RL correspondents; threats and actions against
their family members, including their children; banning their
travel to seminars (most recently in Bishkek) where they
chould have received further professional journalism
training.

By any international standard -- including the human rights
standards which Turkmenistan is stribing to uphold -- this
kind of action is unacceptable, and we ask that it cease.

ASHGABAT 00000807 003 OF 003



We ask that your government look into the treatment of Mr.
Durdymuradov and address any wrongdoing.

As always, we are prepared to work closely with you to meet
your own reasonable concerns and, at the same time, to meet
international standards and practices.

END TEXT.


9. (C) COMMENT: While the government has never been willing
to accommodate the activities of RFE/RL reporters and
contributors in Turkmenistan and has maintained various
levels of harassment against them, this case reflects a sharp
escalation in official action against RFE/RL-affiliated
individuals. We know the foreign ministry heard our message.
We hope the government will take positive action. END
COMMENT.
HOAGLAND