CCPR/C/113/D/2079/2011
June 2006, three days after he was detained, in violation of the provisions of the Criminal
Procedure Code of Turkmenistan.
2.2
Mr. Khadzhiev further claims that on 21 June 2006, he was charged with a crime
and allowed to meet with a lawyer for the first time, five days since his initial apprehension,
in violation of the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code. During the first five days in
detention, his family was not informed about his whereabouts. As a consequence, during
that time, his family and relatives were extremely worried about him and looked for him in
different law enforcement agencies, but did not receive any information.
2.3
The author submits that he was tortured and otherwise mistreated while in detention,
with the aim of forcing him to confess guilt. He submits that 11 people were held in one
cell, with an area of only six square metres. His relatives were not allowed to bring him
food or any other personal items; he did not have access to water; and the temperature in
the cell was about 50 degrees Celsius. He was also denied food and access to medical
assistance.
2.4
Mr. Khadzhiev claims that he did not commit any crime, and that, in fact, the real
reason for his arrest was his active participation in the work of non-governmental
organizations and his activities as a human rights defender. He also assisted international
journalists with the preparation of their news articles about social life in Turkmenistan. His
elder sister was, at that time, working for Radio Liberty; his brother was an opposition
activist, and his brother’s wife was also a human rights defender. The author submits that,
for those reasons, the Turkmen authorities were following his work as a human rights
defender long before his arrest, and waited for an appropriate occasion to arrest him.
2.5
The author submits that he was charged with conspiracy to commit the illegal
purchase, sale, storage, transportation, transfer and carrying of firearms, ammunition,
explosives and explosive devices for a group of individuals, which is proscribed by
article 287, paragraph 2, of the Criminal Code of Turkmenistan. He claims that, even before
he was charged, the news media on television and in the newspapers had accused him of
espionage. Moreover, he and his relatives were accused of “aiding and abetting foreign
intelligence services”. The investigator in charge of his case ordered him to confess his
guilt on television and to publicly denounce his brother (an opposition figure) and his sister
(a journalist).
2.6
The author claims that the investigators could not establish his guilt as they had no
evidence against him. The witnesses for the prosecution did not and could not provide any
statements that would incriminate the author. The defence witnesses were not informed of
the date and time of the court hearings, and were not questioned during the pretrial
investigation. Although the court hearings should have been open to the public, nobody was
allowed to attend. The author submits that his family, relatives as well as representatives of
diplomatic missions requested to attend the court hearing but were refused access. The
author himself and his lawyer were subjected to intense pressure with the aim of obtaining a
confession of guilt for crimes that he did not commit.
2.7
On 25 August 2006, the author was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment. While
in prison, the torture and mistreatment continued. He submits that, at the time of submission
of the communication to the Committee, he was still denied food, water and medical
assistance. He also claims that he was given psychotropic drugs against his will. For the
first two years of his imprisonment, he was held incommunicado — his family and relatives
did not know his whereabouts and he was denied the right to see them in prison or
exchange correspondence with them. During that time, he tried numerous times to submit
complaints to different State institutions, including the Office of the Prosecutor and the
Office of the President of Turkmenistan, but all his pleas and appeals were ignored.
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