The international organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has urged the OSCE’s representative on freedom of the media to press for the release of Nurgeldy Khalykov, who was jailed on trumped-up charges after he had sent a photo to the editorial board of the news outlet Turkmen News.
As has been previously reported, Khalykov was sentenced to a 4 year imprisonment term.
He was officially convicted for fraud but journalists are convinced that the real reason behind the conviction is that he had forwarded a photo of a visiting World Health Organization delegation in July 2020 to the editorial office of the news outlet.
A 26 year old man had been detained before the WHO officials left Turkmenistan.Khalykov’s family, however, was reluctant to talk about the case because the police had promised to release him after 10 to 15 days of arrest.
The relatives were also hoping that he would be amnestied on International Day of Neutrality, which is celebrated on 12 December.This did not happen.
Turkmenistan is ranked 179th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2020 World Press Freedom Index.
Journalists believe that the situation pertaining to freedom of mass media is worse only in North Korea.A year ago Turkmenistan was at the bottom of the ranking.The post Reporters Without Borders urges the OSCE’s representative for the release of Nurgeldy Khalykov first appeared on Chronicles of Turkmenistan.