Photo: aa.com.tr
Murad Dushemov, a Turkmen activist who was due to be released from prison but is now facing new criminal charges, has claimed that the incident behind the new case was a provocation orchestrated to extend his sentence. According to Turkmen.news, Dushemov relayed his version of events to his mother through a lawyer.
His mother, Tyazegul Mammedova, learned that a state-appointed lawyer had been assigned to represent him in the new case, which concerns allegations that Dushemov assaulted a fellow inmate. The lawyer shared Dushemov’s account, according to which the alleged victim acted irrationally and injured himself.
“The person who filed the complaint against me started hitting his head against the wall, injured himself, and smeared the wall with his blood. They’re trying to frame me again to keep me locked up,” Dushemov told his lawyer.
Turkmen.news believes the incident is a provocation organized by Turkmen security services as revenge for Dushemov’s civic activism. Fearing that an additional sentence based on a fabricated case could damage the country’s international image—and that of President Serdar Berdimuhamedov—the Ministry of National Security is reportedly trying to suppress information about the trial.
Recently, internet access was cut off in Dushemov’s family home. Although his relatives had not filed any complaints about their router, a man claiming to be a technician showed up and tampered with the equipment, after which the household lost all connectivity.
Mammedova has also been unable to see her son. She was informed that he had been transferred to pretrial detention center LB-D/9 in Turkmenabat, commonly known as the Abdy Shukur prison, and she managed to deliver a care package. However, her request for a visit was denied, with prison staff directing her to the administration, and officers refusing to speak with her, citing illness and non-visitation days.
Dushemov had been scheduled for release on June 14 after serving a four-year sentence, but was instead charged with injuring a cellmate, who accused him of breaking his arm. A new trial is reportedly expected later in June.
Dushemov was sentenced in August 2021 to four years in prison for extortion and causing moderate bodily harm. Prior to his arrest, he ran a video blog in which he reported on the spread of COVID-19 in Turkmenistan, including a video showing him questioning staff at a clinic about forced vaccinations. After posting the video, he was fined.
Less than a month later, Dushemov and several friends were stopped at a police checkpoint en route from Ashgabat to Dashoguz and asked to present COVID-free certificates. They requested to see the legal basis for the demand but were instead detained. Dushemov and a friend were sentenced to 15 days of administrative detention, and afterward, criminal charges were filed. He was accused of involvement in a fight in a detention cell and of demanding a bribe from the head of the clinic in exchange for not posting the video.
In 2023, Dushemov and three other political prisoners wrote a letter to the UN office in Turkmenistan, calling for protection from legal persecution.
