TURKMENISTAN: OSCE TRAINING EXPOSES TURKMEN

C O N F I D E N T I A L ASHGABAT 000885 SIPDIS STATE FOR SCA/CEN, DRL DOJ/OPDAT FOR CHRIS LEHMANN E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/14/2018 TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM KJUS TX SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: OSCE TRAINING EXPOSES TURKMEN JUDGES, PROSECUTORS AND POLICE TO WESTERN JURISPRUDENCE REF: ASHGABAT 0436 Classified By: CHARGE SYLVIA REED CURRAN FOR REASONS 1. 4 (B) AND (D). ¶1. (C) An OSCE-sponsored team made up of a prosecutor from the Republic of Georgia and a judge from the UK recently spent two weeks in Turkmenistan giving seminars on British jurisprudence. The British judge told emboff July 11 that they had held sessions in Turkmenbashy, Turkmenabat, Mary, and Ashgabat. Each session had 25 participants - judges, prosecutors, police, and at least four defense advocates. ¶2. (C) The judge said the idea of a jury trial was a difficult concept for participants to grasp and many of the questions from the group were rather pointed. One man asked how could a Muslim woman be expected to give testimony about a sexual assault in front of 12 strangers? Other questions has less to do with cultural concerns and more with how one could be sure the jurors were qualified or honest. ¶3. (C) Each session ended with a mock trial, and the team always tried to get participants to play a role different from the one they play in real life. For example, they assigned a female judge from Turkmenbashy, who is known to be very severe, as a defense advocate. She really became enmeshed in her role. She strongly advocated for her client and pointedly cross examined the participants who played the police in the trial regarding their actions, calling them on every instance viewed as misconduct. ¶4. (C) The judge said he was not sure how much of an impact the training had on all participants. However, there were glimmers that perhaps it was causing some participants to think. For example, during one dinner at the end of a session, one of the prosecutors gave a toast, thanking the team for showing them how things are done in the UK. ¶5. (C) COMMENT: Capacity-building training for judges, prosecutors, and defense advocates is an excellent way of promoting rule of law and advancing human rights. German aid agency GTZ is helping to draft a law on the role of attorneys and amend legislation on prosecutors, hoping to incorporate international standards (reftel). Even with the passage of (hopefully) improved laws, much will depend on how well they are implemented. It seems there may be an opportunity for Department of Justice to provide training for judges and prosecutors to nudge the Turkmen farther down the road of reform. END COMMENT. CURRAN