The Turkmen regime never forgives and never forgets.
Gurbandurdy Durdykuliev, a former political prisoner, jailed for his broadcasts on Radio Azatlyk, the Turkmen Service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, was released in 2006, but has continued to suffer difficulties.
This week unknown vandals came and scrawled crude obscenities and drawings on the wall of his home, calling him a "traitor" and his wife a "prostitute," the Turkmen Initiative for Human Rights reported.
Durdykuliev's arrest in 2004 came after he asked to hold a peaceful demonstration to express disatisfaction with past dictator Saparmurat Niyazov. He was then thrown in a psychiatric hospital. Amnesty International adopted him as a prisoner of conscience and the US Congress appealed on his behalf. He was finally released in 2006.
Yet since then, Durdykuliev has continued to experience difficulties in getting a pension and a passport, which has effectively kept him in internal exile in Balkan province.
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