TURKMENISTAN: SON OF A POSSIBLE HUMAN RIGHTS CASE

C O N F I D E N T I A L ASHGABAT 000879 SIPDIS STATE FOR SCA/CEN, DRL E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/14/2018 TAGS: PGOV PHUM TX SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: SON OF A POSSIBLE HUMAN RIGHTS CASE ALLEGES CORRUPTION AT PRISONS AND AN MNB MOLE AT OSCE CENTER REF: ASHGABAT 0848 Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Sylvia Reed Curran for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Shanazar Shaberdiyev, who first approached an emboff several weeks ago looking for advice on how he might get his father -- imprisoned on corruption charges -- freed (reftel), told poloff on July 14 that, for a reasonably small bribe of 600,000-1,000,000 manat (about $40-$70),he could bribe the head of the prison so that an embassy officer could get in and talk to his father. He indicated that he himself has a deal worked out with the prison warden that allows him to see his father regularly. When the prison authorities at one point were talking about transferring his father from the prison in Mary to the notorious Owadandepe Prison north of Ashgabat, he was able to "persuade" the authorities through bribes to turn the idea off. ¶2. (C) Shaberdiyev also claimed that he knows a number of Ministry of National Security (MNB) officials through his schooling and his job, and they talk to him about many things. For example, he said, he was told by one officer, named "Nazar," that there is an MNB "coordinator" who works within the OSCE Center. Nazar reportedly told him about a month ago that, for a bribe and a promise to report to the MNB, this "coordinator" can help ensure that somebody like Shanazar could get a job at the OSCE Center. However, when emboff probed for details, Shaberdiyev said that he couldn't remember the name and did not know the position of the "coordinator." ¶3. (C) COMMENT: We will pass on Shaberdiyev's allegations to the OSCE Center, which, as a result of the legal consulting that its full-time lawyer does for Turkmenistan's citizens, probably sees at least as many human rights cases as the U.S. embassy. While we doubt that an MNB mole could ensure that a Turkmen would get a job at the OSCE Center, the MNB would consider having someone at the Center, with its contacts with human rights activists, valuable. If there is an MNB plant there, they need to be aware so that they can take proper measures to address the issue. More to the point, however, Shaberdiyev's assertions that he could arrange for an embassy officer to meet with his father in prison strikes us as both naive and unlikely. While corruption is omnipresent and he possibly could arrange to get an attorney in to see his father, we believe that, given the government's sensitivity to allowing foreigners to see its prisons, trying to smuggle an embassy officer into prison would be a very different matter entirely. END COMMENT. CURRAN