TURKMENISTAN: ROUNDTABLE ON IMPROVING

UNCLAS ASHGABAT 000295 STATE FOR SCA/CEN, INL SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV KCRM SOCI TX SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: ROUNDTABLE ON IMPROVING PENITENTIARY LEGISLATION ¶1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Not for public internet. ¶2. (U) SUMMARY: TurkmenistanQs first seminar on the QImprovement of Penitentiary LegislationQ was held in Ashgabat on March 2. The meeting was organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and the Institute for Democracy and Human Rights, jointly with the UK Embassy in Turkmenistan and a project of the German Society for Technical Cooperation (GTZ). The seminar was entitled QSupport of legal and judicial reform in Central Asia. Criminal justice specialists from KingQs College in London also participated as international experts. Representatives of TurkmenistanQs judiciary, Ministry of Justice, MFA and IDHR participated in the roundtable. END SUMMARY. ¶3. (U) A two-day roundtable entitled QImproving TurkmenistanQs penitentiary legislationQ was hosted by the Institute for Democracy and Human Rights (IDHR) earlier this week. Chaired by IDHR Director Shirin Ahmedova, the seminar brought together more than 20 participants from different law enforcement and state agencies of Turkmenistan, including the Prosecutor GeneralQs Office, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mejlis (Parliament) and State Supreme Court of Turkmenistan. According to the organizers, one of the most important aspects of the reform is to learn from the experiences of other countries and to incorporate generally accepted norms and standards into Turkmen national legislation. To this end, Turkmenistan plans to develop constructive co-operation with foreign partners, including Federal Republic of Germany and Great Britain. ¶4. (U) The experts from KingQs College, Anton Shelupanov and Vladimir Semushkin, made an assessment trip to Ashgabat last December at the invitation of the British Embassy and participated in a criminal code reform seminar. At the penitentiary legislation roundtable, the British experts described the experience of Great Britain and Kazakhstan in reforming their penitentiary systems. Roundtable participants offered suggestions for strengthening contacts in the legal field and discussed possible means of further cooperation. ¶5. (U) GTZQs QSupport of legal and judicial reform in Central AsiaQ Project will be implemented over a two-year period. The project anticipates organizing bilateral seminars, conferences on international standards, the publication of study materials, organizing study tours to the UK and other EU countries, bilateral work on monitoring of relevant legislation of Turkmenistan, preparation of proposals on its advancement and providing assistance on the development of a project on unified law in compliance with international standards and best practices. ¶6. (SBU) COMMENT: This seminar on penitentiary legislation was yet another example of the Turkmen preference to learn about international best practices and standards as they engage in reforming their laws. While they welcome the opportunity to hear the views of foreign experts, the resulting law will be the work of Turkmen drafters. END COMMENT. MILES