TURKMENISTAN: RECENT DRUG CRIME REPORTS

UNCLAS ASHGABAT 001282 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR SCA/CEN, INL/AAE BUHLER E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SNAR PGOV KCRM SOCI TX SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: RECENT DRUG CRIME REPORTS REF: Ashgabat 172 ¶1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Not for public Internet. ¶2. (U) On September 18th, the Ashgabat weekly "Adalat" (Justice) reported that a 40-year old, unemployed resident of Ak Bugday village in Ahal Province, Gurbanberdi Charyev, had been arrested by State Counter- Narcotics Service (SCNS) agents for selling narcotics. Charyev had previously been sentenced to eight years in prison for drug-related crimes, but was later pardoned under a presidential decree. This time, Charyev received a 12-year sentence. ¶3. (U) In the September 11 issue of Adalat, it was reported that in Dashoguz Province, 43-year old Otuzbay Orazmuhammedov and 32-year old Batyr Matyazov, both of whom had prior drug convictions, were sentenced for drug dealing to 13 and 12 years in prison, respectively. ¶4. (U) Similarly, the newspaper reported on October 2 that a resident of Nohurly village, near Ashgabat, 60- year old Hojamuhammet Amanmuhammedov, also previously convicted on drug charges several times, but then released under a general presidential pardon, allegedly purchased heroin from an unidentified subject on March ¶16. He was arrested in Ashgabat on April 9 by SCNS officers with 12 doses of heroin (weighing 0.3 grams) in his possession and later sentenced eight years in prison. ¶5. (SBU) COMMENT: Under the Niyazov regime, convicted drug smugglers were often given amnesty. Those same convicts, many of whom returned to the drug trade after their release, are finding themselves back in prison. The government has since ceased giving amnesty to drug offenders. None of the 1,284 prisoners released by the president in September on the eve of the Muslim holy day Laylat al-Qadr, ("Night of Omnipotence," which is marked towards the end of Ramadan) had been sentenced for drug related crimes. We note that he articles reporting the above crimes were all written and submitted by either the presiding judges or prosecutors in the cases. END COMMENT. CURRAN