TURKMENISTAN: FEBRUARY 19 FLAG DAY HOLIDAY BRINGS

UNCLAS ASHGABAT 000237 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR SCA/CEN; DRL E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PHUM TX SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: FEBRUARY 19 FLAG DAY HOLIDAY BRINGS ANOTHER PARDON LIST ¶1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Not for public Internet. ¶2. (U) The February 17 issue of state-controlled newspaper "Neytralniy Turkmenistan" reported that, during the February 16 meeting of the State Security Council, President Berdimuhamedov signed a decree to release prisoners in honor of the February 19 National Flag Day holiday. The Turkmen Presidential Press Service announced that 990 prisoners were released. The list published in the newspaper contained only 886 names. According to past practice, the names of foreign prisoners were not included in the list. It is unclear whether the 104 unnamed prisoners were foreigners or prisoners that the Turkmen government did not wish to identify publicly. ¶3. (SBU) None of 886 names published were prisoners of concern, relating either to the list of those imprisoned after the 2002 attack on former President Niyazov or to individual human rights cases. Of the 886 names published, 803 were those of men, and 83 were those of women. The vast majority had been jailed in 2008. Only 50 of them, or less than six percent, were prisoners who had been sentenced before 2008. Twenty-two of the prisoners had been serving jail terms since 2004. Eight had been jailed since 2001, and eight had been jailed since 2003. Only a total of twelve of the released prisoners had been jailed during the years 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2006 or 2007. ¶4. (SBU) COMMENT: Post studied the list carefully for the names of former officials, prisoners of interest, or Jehovah,s Witnesses adherents prosecuted in recent years for refusing to do military service, but the list appears to contain primarily the names of those jailed for petty crimes. It is possible that some familiar names could be included among the 104 unidentified prisoners. Previous pardons have only included 10 or 15 unidentified persons at one time. Post will inquire among local contacts to learn more about the unidentified people who were released. END COMMENT. MILES