ALTERNATIVE TURKMENISTAN NEWS
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LETTER OF SUPPORT
With this letter of support Alternative Turkmenistan News – Netherlands-based media and human rights group, urges the authorities of Greece to prevent extradition of Mr. Yavuz Olgun – citizen of Turkey, wanted by Turkmenistan in allegation of bribery.
Yavuz Olgun with his family
Turkmenistan is a country that provides no access to justice to the accused. Many criminal cases are fabricated to extort money, especially from foreigners, or to punish citizens for dissent. As noted in the 2015 country report of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom, “[in Turkmenistan] it remains difficult for individuals to challenge court decisions.” This not only applies to numerous civil society activists and journalists like Mansur Mingelov and Saparmamed Nepeskuliev but also to foreign investors like Farouk Bozbey and a teacher like Hacı Hamdi Hamit Polat.
All of the above-mentioned people were accused of bogus charges. The first two still remain in Turkmen prisons, and the latter have been freed thanks to efforts of the Turkish government.
Torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment is widespread in Turkmenistan. In its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2015, the U.S. State Department wrote: “Security officials tortured and beat criminal suspects, prisoners, and individuals deemed critical of the government to extract confessions and as a form of punishment. […] Forms of torture included pulling the genitals with pliers, electric shocks, and beatings with chair legs and plastic bottles filled with water.”
Similar evidence is provided by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and numerous interviews by Alternative Turkmenistan News held with former prison inmates in Turkmenistan.
Corruption in Turkmenistan, including in the law enforcement, is disastrous. “Corruption existed in the security forces and in all social and economic sectors. Factors encouraging corruption included the existence of patronage networks, lack of transparency and accountability […] According to Freedom House and the World Bank’s Worldwide Governance Indicators, the country had a severe corruption problem” (Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2015, U.S. Department of State, Section 4).
Given all of this, Alternative Turkmenistan News strongly urges the authorities of Greece to prevent the extradition of Mr. Yavuz Olgun to Turkmenistan, as there are sufficient reasons to believe that the case against him has been fabricated and that he will be deprived from fair trial. Feel free to contact Alternative Turkmenistan News should you require more information.
Sincerely yours,
Ruslan Myatiev
Editor-in-Chief
Alternative Turkmenistan News (ATN)
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