Photo by turkmen.news
On 23 March Saparmamed Nepeskuliev, the Turkmen journalist who has fallen into disfavour by the authorities, left Turkmenistan.
Nepesukuliev was a freelance journalist, who had contributed to Radio “Liberty” and Alternative Turkmenistan News.In July 2015 he was arrested in the city of Turkmenbashi.
In August 2015 he was sentenced to a three year imprisonment term for possession of Tramadol a prescription drug banned in Turkmenistan.
Later the UN Working group acknowledged his arrest as arbitrary.
The journalist was released in May 2018 after serving a full sentence in prison.
Since then he has been under constant surveillance.