Turkmenistan: Ashgabat Set to Silence Civic Activist

Human rights groups are calling for top-level Western and Russian diplomatic intervention to halt the politically motivated prosecution of an environmental activist in Turkmenistan. Political and economic considerations make it unlikely that such outreach will be forthcoming, however.

Andrei Zatoka, a biology expert working with Counterpart Consortium, a USAID-funded organization, is in jail awaiting trial for allegedly assaulting a stranger. Zatoka's supporters maintain the incident was a set-up. The trial is scheduled to open October 29.

According to the Russian human rights organization Memorial, Zatoka was confronted while shopping in a market in Dashoguz by an allegedly aggressive individual on October 20. Police immediately swooped in on Zatoka, arresting him and charging him with assault. If convicted he faces up to five years in prison.

This is not the first time that Zatoka has faced prison time. In early 2007, he was found guilty of possessing illegal weapons and poisons, but his three-year sentence was suspended and he was freed on parole. His release followed an intensive campaign involving the United Nations, the OSCE, and Russia. Zatoka holds dual Russian and Turkmen citizenship but has not been allowed leave the country since a travel ban was imposed on him in 2007.

The Zatoka case highlights a disturbing pattern in Turkmenistan. Over the past year, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov's administration has backed away from previous reform pledges, and appeared to embrace the legacy of the country's late, despotic ruler, Saparmurat Niyazov. Geopolitical and economic circumstances are helping to embolden Berdymukhamedov. Given that Turkmenistan borders Afghanistan, the United States and its NATO allies see the maintenance of good relations with Ashgabat as vital in the their effort to defeat an Islamic insurgency. Meanwhile, the European Union and Russia are competing to secure a large share of Turkmenistan's energy reserves. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Veronika Szente Goldston, Human Rights Watch's advocacy director for Europe and Central Asia, characterized Zatoka as a victim of political persecution. She called on the international community to exert pressure on Berdymukhamedov's administration to drop the assault charges against the environmental activist.

"It appears to be a staged incident by the authorities in order to silence Andrei Zatoka and to stop him from pursuing his civic activism," Goldston told EurasiaNet in an October 27 interview.

"It's crucial that Turkmenistan's international partners intervene forcibly to express their concerns," Goldston continued. "Now that he has been formally charged and a trial date set, it is vitally important that there are international observers from the Europe, the United States and from the OSCE at the trial itself to really demonstrate the concerns the international community should feel about this case, and to show their support for Zatoka."

Goldston also expressed annoyance over the evident US and EU reluctance to challenge Ashgabat's behavior. "Berdymukhamedov is getting a free ride simply for not being Niyazov," she said. "High hopes were attached to Berdymukhamedov as a reformist and it's been long enough now to realize that those reforms promised ? are not actually materializing. It's frustrating to see the reluctance the international community has shown in this regard."

In a letter posted by Chrono-tm.org, a Turkmen opposition website, Zatoka appealed to the Russian Embassy in Ashgabat to assist him. "I am in detention and under investigation for a wholly trumped-up case," he wrote, adding that he was prepared to give up his Turkmen citizenship and re-settle in Russia. If convicted, Zatoka also stated a desire to serve his sentence in Russia. The Russian Embassy in Ashgabat did not respond to questions about what Russian diplomats were doing to aid Zatoka.

The International Socio-Ecological Union, a Russian environmental organization, has publicly urged Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to lobby for Zatoka's freedom. An open letter from the organization addressed to Medvedev and posted by Chrono-tm.org said the president should feel an obligation to "make full use of his [presidential] powers and authority to protect the rights and interests of one of our fellow citizens."

Like the United States and European Union, however, the Russian government does not appear willing to do or say anything that potentially angers and/or alienates Berdymukhamedov's regime.

Speaking at a picket outside the Turkmen Embassy in Moscow on October 27, Elena Ryabinin, a program manager for political refugees from Central Asia with the organization Civil Assistance, said she was disappointed by Russia's reaction so far. "The Russia's government apparently does not want to not interfere in anything. They are only interested in geopolitics," the opposition website Gundagor.org quoted her as saying.