Devlet Bayhan News Today

Story by Sher Khashimov for The Beet. Edited by Eilish Hart.

“Turkmenistan has long been a closed country for independent human rights scrutiny. The pattern of persecution of relatives of activists who live abroad shows the lengths to which its government will go to keep the world from knowing the scale of the human rights violations there.”

Our weekly round-up of the major news stories from across Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia that have taken place over the past seven days, including Amazon's official entry to the Central Asian marketplace.

The Committee to Protect Journalists has joined human rights organizations in urging the authoritarian leadership of Turkmenistan to end the practice of threatening and harassing exiled journalists' family members and allow all journalists living abroad to return to the country and work in safety.

Turkmen Authorities Slammed For Threatening Relatives Of Exiled Dissidents May 13, 2021 08:44 GMT Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov has carefully constructed a personality cult to himself in the country. Share share Print Four leading human rights groups have criticized the authoritarian leadership of Turkmenistan for "threatening" the relatives of dissidents living abroad. In a joint statement on May 13, Human Rights Watch (HRW), the Turkmen Initiative for Human Rights (TIHR), Int...

Turkmenistan: Threats Against Relatives of Dissidents Abroad Stop Threatening Families, Respect Freedom of Expression Rozybai Jumamadov, whose 14-year-old nephew and family were harassed and threatened by authorities in Turkmenistan, May 2020. © 2020 Rozybai Jumamadov (Vienna) – Turkmen security officials have questioned and threatened a 14-year-old boy in retaliation for the outspoken views of his uncle, a Turkmen activist and journalist who lives in Turke...