New information
TKM 001 / 1109 / OBS 161.1
End of judicial proceedings
Turkmenistan
November 6, 2009
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), has received new information and requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Turkmenistan.
The Observatory has been informed by reliable sources about the end of judicial proceedings against environmental activist Mr. Andrey Zatoka, co-Founder of the Dashoguz Ecology Club, shut down by the Turkmen authorities in 2003.
According to the information received, on November 6, 2009, the Regional Court commuted the five-year sentence of Mr. Andrey Zatoka to the payment of a 350-dollar fine. The latter should therefore be released in the shortest delays.
The Observatory welcomes the end of judicial proceedings against Mr. Zatoka, and thanks all the persons, institutions and organisations who intervened in his favour.
The Observatory nonetheless regrets the fine imposed on Mr. Zatoka, as it stems from fabricated charges and merely aims at sanctioning his human rights activities, in violation of the 1998 United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders.
On October 20, 2009, Mr. Andrey Zatoka had been physically attacked by an unknown man in the market of Dashoguz. He had then been arrested by two police officers, and later unjustly charged with “hooliganism” (violent action).
On October 29, 2009, Mr. Andrey Zatoka had been convicted for "intentional infliction of medium injuries", and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment. The trial was hurriedly convened after a four-day public holiday. This prevented many international observers from attending the hearing.
In 2006, Mr. Zatoka had already been detained in his hometown of Tashauz while boarding a flight to Moscow and charged with “hooliganism”. He had later been accused of being in possession of weapons and dangerous substances. He was granted a conditional release in January 2007, following pressure from the international community, upon a pledge not to leave the country for three years. In that framework, Mr. Zatoka encountered in 2008 an order of refusal to leave the territory from the Attorney General, although he was scheduled to go to a meeting in Moscow organised by the International Social and Ecological Union and holds a Russian passport[1].
Please write to the Turkmen authorities urging them to:
Please also write to the diplomatic representations of Turkmenistan in your respective countries.
Paris - Geneva, November 6, 2009.
Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.
The Observatory, a FIDH and OMCT venture, is dedicated to the protection of Human Rights Defenders and aims to offer them concrete support in their time of need.
The Observatory was the winner of the 1998 Human Rights Prize of the French Republic.
To contact the Observatory, call the emergency line:
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