The United States is dissatisfied with the legal procedures of Ashgabat
Turkmen authorities have isolated three children of Radio Liberty correspondent Ogulsapar Muradova, who died in prison, Reporters Without Borders reports. Their whereabouts are unknown and their lives may be in danger, Reporters warn. Ogulsapar Muradova died in early September, three weeks after a court sentenced her to six years in prison for “illegal possession of ammunition.” Finland, which chairs the EU, demanded that Ashgabat conduct an independent investigation into the tragic incident. The Turkmen opposition website “Gundogar” reports that heads of Turkmen media invited to the US Embassy in Ashgabat recently refused the proposal of US Chargé d'Affaires Jennifer Lee Brush to honor a minute of silence in memory of Ogulsapar Muradova
US Ambassador to the OSCE Julie Finley expressed concern about the lack of due process in Turkmenistan in both criminal and civil proceedings. Ms. Finley recalled the fate of the former Ambassador of Turkmenistan to the OSCE, later the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Batyr Berdyev, “arrested in connection with the events in Ashgabat in November 2002, whom no one has seen since December of the same year.” The US Ambassador demanded from the Turkmen government evidence that Berdyev was alive and access to him for Red Cross Committee observers.
