Well-known Turkmen civil activist and political prisoner Murat Dushemov has not returned home after completing an illegal four-year sentence.Dushemov should have been released on June 14, but, according to turkmen.news, he was framed in an incident not long before that, and arrested on new charges as a result.
His current whereabouts are not known.Turkmen civil activist Murat DushemovOn August 16, 2021, Murat Dushemov was found guilty of extortion and deliberately causing moderately severe bodily harm.The case against him was fabricated because he had defended his rights and taken an active civil positionDespite multiple deaths during the pandemic, Turkmenistan’s government denied COVID-19 was present in the country.
Dushemov publicly cast doubt on the authorities’ claims.He also refused to wear a compulsory facemask and be vaccinated, demanding that health and police employees show him the justification for these demands.On June 16, Ashgabat’s Bezmein district court fined the activist, supposedly for swearing in a public place, although he had not sworn during his visit to the local polyclinic the previous day.
Dushemov had simply tried to find out on what basis his mother had been told to have a COVID-19 vaccination before travelling to another region.He posted a full video recording of his visit to the clinic on his YouTube channel.On July 7, Dushemov travelled by car from Ashgabat to Dashoguz with a friend and the friend’s wife.
Traffic police stopped their car at a checkpoint in Ruhubelent district and asked them to show certificates to confirm they did not have coronavirus.Dushemov and his companions asked to see the legal basis for this demand.
When no document was produced for several hours, Dushemov’s friend blocked the highway with his car.After this, all three of them were arrested.Dushemov and his friend were detained for 15 days, while the friend’s wife was fined and released.The friend’s period of detention ended on July 22 and he was released, but Dushemov was framed: two people were put in his cell and started to fight each other.
Both prisoners then said that Murat had supposedly attacked and wounded them.The activist was tried and sentenced to four years in a general regime colony.According to the fabricated criminal case, he had allegedly demanded money from the chief doctor at the polyclinic not to make public a video featuring the clinic’s doctors.
The second charge against him appeared after the fight in the cell.In May 2023, Dushemov and three other political prisoners serving sentences in the same colony LB-E/12 managed to get a letter to the UN representative office in Turkmenistan.
They asked UN staff to visit them in person in the colony and to protect them from the lawless behavior there.The letter was ignored.The UN Resident Coordinator in Turkmenistan, Dmitry Shlapachenko, refused to answer questions from turkmen.news about the letter and about responding to the prisoners’ request.
He said only that he was liaising on the issue with the UN Human Rights Office in Geneva.Murat Dushemov’s term should have ended on June 14, but he did not return home.
According to information obtained by turkmen.news, not long before his release date a prisoner wrote a complaint about him the activist allegedly broke his arm.Dushemov is not in colony LB-E/12 at present and his relatives have not been told where he is.
Turkmen.news has information that he is being held in detention center LB-D/9 in Turkmenabat (known as Abdy Shukur prison).Dushemov is probably facing another trial and new custodial sentence.Turkmen.news thinks the case is outrageous and that the special services are taking revenge on Dushemov for continuing to stand up for his rights even in prison.
The activist was counting the days until his release and taking great care not to give the prison guards the slightest reason to make a “complaint” against him, so the accusation that he started a fight sounds implausible.
He had already been set up in a similar way four years ago in the Ruhubelent police department.Turkmen.news informed human rights organizations and EU representatives about Dushemov’s situation.
On June 17, the EU representatives had the latest round of dialogue on human rights with Turkmen officials.