Turkmen Politician Released From Jail

The authorities in Turkmenistan have announced the release of former speaker of parliament Ovezgeldy Ataev and his wife after five years in jail. 

The news came from Turkmen deputy foreign minister Vepa Hajiev during a meeting of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in New York.

No one has yet reported seeing Ataev, 61.

A source in Turkmenistan confirmed that preparations for Ataev’s release were made last year, but it was decided to time it to coincide with President Gurbanguly Berdymuhammedov’s re-election this February.

Ataev’s incarceration followed the death of Turkmenistan’s first president Saparmurad Niazov at the end of 1996.

Under the constitution, the speaker of parliament was supposed to step in as acting head of state. But almost immediately, a meeting of the State Security Council and government ruled him out on the grounds that the prosecution service had accused him Cabinet of Ministers reached a decision that Ataev could not hold this post since the prosecutor's office had brought a number of charges against him including abuse of office and driving his son’s intended wife to suicide because he was hostile to the tribe she came from.

After being deposed as speaker in December 2006, Ataev was sent to jail in February 2007, after Berdymuhammedov had been installed as president.

For good measure, Ataev’s wife was imprisoned as well, reflecting the commonly-applied practice of collective punishment.

"The arrest and conviction of Ataev opened the way for Berdymuhammedov to become president," a political commentator in the capital Ashgabat said. "Let’s remember that an emergency session [of parliament] convened on December 26, 2006 and immediately appointed Berdymuhammedov as temporary leader."

An acting head of state would normally be barred from standing for president, but within a matter of days, the Security Council had arranged for the constitution to be changed to lift this rule.

It was not long before many of the officials who had helped Berdymuhammedov rise to power disappeared off the political scene, in a series of dismissals and prosecutions.

"All of this, on top of Ataev’s arrest, continue to raise a lot of questions," the commentator added.

This article was produced as part of News Briefing Central Asia output, funded by the National Endowment for Democracy.

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