CCPR/C/122/D/2252/2013
2 (2) and (3); 9 (1) and (3); 14 (1), (2), (3) (b) and (d) and (5); and 19 of the Covenant. The
Optional Protocol entered into force for the State party on 1 August 1997. The author is
represented by counsel.
The facts as submitted by the author
2.1
The author served as a deputy chairman of the National Bank of Turkmenistan
before resigning in 1998. Due to widespread repression, he and his wife fled Turkmenistan
in 2001. Before their departure, they were followed by an agent of the security services and
their phone conversations were recorded. Later, in 2002, then-President Niyazov issued a
decree banning current and former government officials from travelling abroad, and made a
list of those who had already left. The author was specifically targeted. The authorities
sought his extradition back to Turkmenistan, but he was granted refugee status in Bulgaria
due to the political nature of the persecution against him.
2.2
After the author and his wife left the country, the authorities also harassed members
of their family. For example, they approached Ms. Muradova, the author’s sister, and tried
to threaten her in order for her to testify against him. The authorities also threatened Ms.
Muradova’s children. Ms. Muradova herself was a journalist and human rights activist in
Turkmenistan. Since she was concerned about the human rights situation in Turkmenistan,
the author, Ms. Muradova and several other colleagues had co-founded the Turkmenistan
Helsinki Foundation. The purpose of creating the Foundation was to monitor the human
rights, freedoms and protection of the people of Turkmenistan and help and support
everyone who suffered because of his or her convictions and beliefs. The organization was
based in Varna, Bulgaria, because it could not operate in Turkmenistan under the
oppressive regime of then-President Niyazov.
2.3
The Foundation remained very active until 2006. For example, the author and Ms.
Muradova compiled a list of the names of several hundred dissidents who had been jailed
for simply disagreeing with President Niyazov’s regime. Ms. Muradova also consulted
people on various human rights issues. She was active in cooperating with Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty, which was considered the only source of independent news and
information in Turkmenistan. The authorities periodically pressured Ms. Muradova to
resign from her job and stop publishing critical remarks. She was called to the Ministry of
National Security several times, she was followed everywhere by its secret agents and her
landlines and mobile telephones were disconnected in April 2006.
2.4
On 18 June 2006, two Ashgabat city police officers came to Ms. Muradova’s home
and asked her to accompany them to the Ashgabat police station. One of the officers told
Ms. Muradova’s family that they needed to have a talk with her at the police station. They
did not present an arrest warrant.
2.5
On 18 June, Ms. Muradova’s daughters, S.M. and M.M., went to wait for their
mother at the Ministry of Internal Affairs. A police official eventually approached them and
demanded that they bring them Ms. Muradova’s computer, fax machine and mobile
telephone. S.M. and M.M. refused to surrender these items without a warrant. In response,
the police official presented a statement, allegedly signed by Ms. Muradova, instructing
them to surrender the items. The police then allowed the two daughters to communicate
with their mother using a handheld radio transceiver, and Ms. Muradova told them to do as
the official said. However, her speech was slurred and inconsistent and her words
incoherent. This raised fears that she had been drugged or otherwise abused before they
spoke. The authorities ultimately seized the equipment.
2.6
When her daughters reported her detention to the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe, they were detained on 19 June 2006. During the detention, both
S.M. and M.M. were threatened with dismissal from their jobs. One of them was also told
that she would be arrested and prevented from seeing her infant child. Ms. Muradova’s
daughters were finally released on 1 July 2006. They were never provided with any official
documents or explanations regarding their arrest and both were subsequently dismissed
from their jobs.
2.7
The authorities also detained Ms. Muradova’s brother, Mr. Khadzhiyev, and Mr.
Amanklyuchev, who was arrested on 16 June 2006. Mr. Khadzhiyev was arrested
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