Cablegate: Turkmenistan: Correction to List of Those

VZCZCXRO6742
PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHLH RUEHLN
RUEHLZ RUEHPW RUEHROV RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHAH #1103 2841109
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 111109Z OCT 07
FM AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9534
INFO RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 2867
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING PRIORITY 0688
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 0564
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL PRIORITY 1140
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 1332
RHMFIUU/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE PRIORITY 1816
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 0593
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS ASHGABAT 001103

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/CEN, DRL

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: CORRECTION TO LIST OF THOSE
AMNESTIED

REF: ASHGABAT 1081

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

2. (SBU) Post has learned from OSCE human dimension officer
Benjamin Moreau that Turkmenistan's former Ambassador to the
OSCE Batyr Berdiev was not/not listed among the almost 9,000
names of those amnestied on Tuesday (reftel). Moreau
confirmed that although a person of similar name and
sentencing date was listed, Batyr Atayevich Berdiev was born
in 1960 and was sentenced on December 18, 2002. Post will
continue to keep Berdiev's name at the top of the list of
political prisoners in need of advocacy.

3. (SBU) COMMENT: All Western and international missions
in Ashgabat continue to comb the amnesty list, which is
especially important this year because of the steps the new
government is taking to begin to improve its human rights
record. We caught the discrepency of the two similar names
when we tried to contact the Batyr Berdiev who was released.
END COMMENT.
HOAGLAND

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