TURKMENISTAN: MOTHER OF FORMER AMERICAS DESK

C O N F I D E N T I A L ASHGABAT 000994

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/CEN, DRL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/31/2018
TAGS: PGOV PHUM TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: MOTHER OF FORMER AMERICAS DESK
OFFICER CHARGED IN 2005 SPY CASE APPROACHES EMBASSY FOR HELP

Classified By: Charge Sylvia Reed Curran for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: The Embassy was recently approached by a
woman claiming to be the mother of a former MFA Americas desk
officer who was arrested by Turkmen authorities in 2005 for
engaging in espionage on behalf of Russia. The woman
requested assistance in passing a letter, in which her son
claimed to be innocen, to government officials. The Embassy
referred her to the legal assistance office at the OSCE
Center. END SUMMARY.


2. (C) On July 28, a woman contacted post, claiming to be
the mother of an MFA Americas desk officer who was arrested
by Turkmen authorities in February 2005 for engaging in
espionage on behalf of Russia (which, presumably, would have
included revealing information about U.S.-Turkmenistan
relations). Amangul Atalikova delivered a copy of a November
2007 letter that she believed her son, Danagatar Atalikov,
had written while imprisoned in a strict regime prison near
Turkmenbashy. She claimed to have found the letter, wrapped
in cloth, in the yard of her home recently. Atalikova asked
for post's assistance in raising her son's case with
Turkmenistan government officials as a human rights case, and
said she came to the U.S. embassy because her son had been a
counterpart for post personnel at the time of his arrest.
She indicated that she had already requested a review of her
son's case through the Commission on Citizen Appeals of Law
Enforcement Activities, but was not satisfied with its
negative response. The Embassy referred her to the legal
assistance office at the OSCE Center.


3. (C) Atalikova said her son was tried and found guilty in
March 2005 of treason, abuse of office and receiving a bribe,
and sentenced to 15 years in prison. He was one of three
individuals implicated in the high-profile espionage case
that year. State authorities alleged that he passed
classified materials from the Americas desk to RIA Novosti
correspondent Viktor Panov, as well as to other foreign
entities. A third accomplice, MNB Captain Dmitry Chernobay,
was also charged in the case. Panov was eventually deported
to Russia, but Atalikov and Chernobay were jailed and have
spent the past three years in prison.


4. (C) Atalikov's letter was addressed to President
Berdimuhamedov, and in it he claimed he was innocent. He
denied ever having had access to classified information while
working on the Americas desk and claimed that authorities
forced a confession from him prior to his court trial. He
claimed that even Foreign Minister Meredov knew that he did
not have access to sensitive information. He wrote that he
had been denied the ability to appeal his case, and was
serving his prison sentence in a strict regime prison colony
identified as BL/K-6 near the village of Ak Dash, near
Turkmenbashy. Atalikov indicated that he was one of eleven
prisoners--most of whom, he claimed, were political
prisoners--living in a single cell in almost total isolation.
He said Chernobay, the other Turkmenistan citizen sentenced
in the espionage case, was one of the cell's occupants. At
the end of the letter, Atalikov requested that President
Berdimuhamedov pardon him, as he had other prisoners in 2007.
If this was not possible, he requested that Berdimuhamedov
review his case or even consider stripping Atalikov of his
Turkmenistan citizenship and deporting him.


5. (C) COMMENT: Post was more than a little surprised that
Atalikov's mother would choose to approach the U.S. embassy,
given that the espionage of which her son was accused was
likely damaging to U.S. interests. We believe that the son
is being disingenuous about his access to sensitive
information, given the fact that MFA Americas Desk officials
see almost all diplomatic traffic between the Embassy and
Ministry and attend most of the Embassy's meetings with
Turkmenistan government officials. Given the gravity of his
alleged crimes, it is unlikely that the mother will be able
to do much for her son. END COMMENT.
CURRAN