Cablegate: Turkmenistan: High-Profile and Irf-Concern Names

VZCZCXRO7920
PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHLH RUEHLN
RUEHLZ RUEHPW RUEHROV RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHAH #1081 2781234
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 051234Z OCT 07
FM AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9504
INFO RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 2850
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING PRIORITY 0671
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 0547
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL PRIORITY 1123
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 1328
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE PRIORITY 1804
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 0586
RHMFIUU/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS ASHGABAT 001081

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/CEN, DRL

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KIRF TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: HIGH-PROFILE AND IRF-CONCERN NAMES
ON NEW PARDON LIST

REF: ASHGABAT 1075

1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Not for public Internet.

2. (U) Post has learned that several additional names of
interest were on the list of those to be amnestied on October
9. A source at the Turkish embassy confirmed that it was
notified that six Turkish citizens were on the list (he did
not note why they had been imprisoned), and OSCE
representative Benjamin Moreau made us aware of several
others. We also heard that a woman and man with the same
last name as former Prime Minister Boris Shihmuradov were
included on the list, and have now confirmed they are his
sister-in-law and younger son, who were only recently
convicted of bribery. In addition, the list contains the
name of an individual, Kakamurat Nazarov, who was sentenced
in the same time period as many other individuals charged
with involvement in the 2002 attack on former President
Niyazov's motorcade, but we have not been able to confirm for
certain. Other names of particular interest we've discovered
on the list include:

-- Batyr Berdiev. The former foreign minister and ambassador
to the OSCE (an especially significant pardon);

-- Andrey Zatoka. An environmentalist and journalist who was
charged in January with weapons possession and given a
three-year suspended sentence;

-- Three Jehovah's Witnesses jailed last summer for refusing
compulsory military duty, including Alexandre Zuyev, Nuryagdy
Gayirov, and Suleyman Udayev. Two other Jehovah's Witnesses,
Begench Shahmuradov and Bayram Ashyrgeldiyev, were not on the
list.

3. (SBU) COMMENT: We and others continue to comb through
the list of almost 9,000 names, and will report any
additional significant names we find. This may take some
time, however, given the list's length. END COMMENT.
HOAGLAND

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