Police officers of Lebap velayat have been instructed to detain and impose fines on five individuals on a daily basis for violating the mask mandate, one of the law enforcement officers told a correspondent of “Chronicles of Turkmenistan”.
Since early November police officers have been detaining residents who are not wearing masks or those who are wearing them wrong, i.e. without covering a nose. Law enforcement officers in civilian clothes get on buses and present their IDs during detentions.
Those who have violated the mask mandate are transported to a police station where law enforcement officers draw up a detention report and impose a fine of 25 manats. Escorted by a police officer, a violator then goes to the bank office to pay the fine.
A similar situation is being observed in rural areas.However, unlike the city, a person who has violated the mask mandate is given three days to pay the fine because there are few bank officers in the villages.
A detainee is warned that if the fine is not paid on time, its amount will increase tenfold and he might be held criminally liable pursuant to article 308 of Turkmenistan’s Criminal Code “Violation of public health regulations which resulted, through negligence, mass disease or poisoning of people”.
It is punishable with corrective labour or an imprisonment term of up to 2 years.
According to Radio “Azatlyk”, fines have been imposed en masse on residents for not wearing masks or failure to wear them properly in Ashgabat. Cadets of the military and police academies were charged with the task of monitoring the violations together with police officers.
A correspondent of the Radio was quoted as saying that a lot of violators had been detained. It should be emphasized that men made up the majority of detainees because women “create a lot of fuss” and “demand that their rights are respected”.
According to “Azatlyk”, the elders and mosque servants had been engaged in public awareness campaigns committed to educating residents about the mask mandate.The post Lebap police officers instructed to impose fines on 5 residents a day for violating mask mandate first appeared on Chronicles of Turkmenistan.