All textile products are of the highest quality. All tags were made for Western market, with sizes and care instructions according to Western standards. The apparel was obviously manufactured for export, but never reached the overseas customers, having ended up in the markets of Mary and Turkmenabat.

Galina Vertyakova wrote about «idiocy of the officials,» «inept leaders,» and about how «sick of it» she was, until the police came for her under the guise of debt repayment. Vertyakova went with them to the police and never returned home. While this article was prepared for publication, ATN had learned that Galina Vertyakova’s husband Vladimir Vertyakov had gone missing as well.

Nazir Habibov was convicted for possession of a large amount of drugs and drug use. People who know him personally believe that the case against him was fabricated. Nazir has never used drugs, they said.

I and my family members have been subjected to insults, telephone threats, and continuous attempts to keep us in fear. We have been repeatedly summoned to the police station without any reason. My home phone has been tapped, I was denied access to the internet, six of my SIM cards were blocked.

The Farab district is a backward area that is often criticized by regional authorities and the government, and therefore the local administration head Hasan Metkuliev is prepared to overlook any kind of offences and violations of human rights, only to be able to report well on the cotton harvesting targets.

By Felix Corley, Forum 18 Bahram Saparov led a Hanafi Sunni Muslim community in Turkmenabad. He and about 20 members of his group were given long prison sentences in May 2014. He and possibly others were transferred to the top-security Ovadan-Depe prison, where torture is frequent and prisoners are held incommunicado. One of the many…

In the new barracks new shower rooms are available, but inmates cannot use them – only the guards. The prisoners have to use the old, open-air showers, with only four taps for 1000 people.

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.

The mayor of Turkmenbashi has taken residents of a small village called “Burnak” to court, demanding that they vacate their houses. The court obliged District Administration to perform the eviction on August 17, 2016, at 10 a.m. and ordered local police department, emergency service and ambulance to be present during the eviction.