The Norwegian Helsinki Committee, Turkmen.News, Turkmen Initiative forHuman Rights, International Partnership for Human Rights and Association forHuman Rights in Cental Asia (AHRCA) call on authorities in Turkmenistan to drop
new criminal charges initiated against civic activist Murat Dushemov in
apparent retaliation for his activism and to release him immediately.
Turkmen civil activist and political prisoner
Murat Dushemov did not return home after the end of his unjust four-year prison
sentence on June 14, 2025. According to information
from
Turkmen.News, authorities initiated new criminal charges against him shortly
before his anticipated release, allegedly over a fight with a fellow prisoner –
an incident believed to have been staged to incriminate him. He currently
remains in detention, with the trial on
the new charges expected soon.
Murat Dushemov was originally imprisoned in 2021
on charges of extortion and infliction of bodily harm, widely viewed as retaliation for his peaceful civic activism.
He had publicly challenged the Turkmen government’s denial of the COVID-19
pandemic, questioned the legal basis of mask mandates and vaccination
requirements, and refused to comply without justification—actions that led to
repeated harassment and politically motivated charges. At that time, Dushemov
was also accused of
allegedly attacking and injuring co-detainees.
Both human rights defenders and international
experts have expressed serious concerns about the politically-motivated nature
of the charges leading to Dushemov’s 2021 prison sentence. During its review of
Turkmenistan in 2023, the UN Human Rights Committee called
for his release – an issue the government promised to consider. However, it
has failed
to follow through on this commitment.
The new alleged prison incident involving Dushemov—used to justify the fresh
charges— appears to be a fabricated pretext to extend his detention and
penalize him for continuing to stand up for his rights while in prison.
Dushemov is accused of
injuring a fellow prisoner during a fight. However, in a message conveyed
through his lawyer, the activist firmly denied the
charges and stated that the new case against him is the result of a deliberate
provocation. Dushemov said: “The person who filed the complaint against me
deliberately injured himself by hitting a wall, he then smeared it with his own
blood, and falsely accused me. They’re
trying to slander me again to prolong my detention.”
For several days after the expiration of
Dushemov’s sentence, his family had no information about his whereabouts. It
was only thanks to the persistent efforts of his mother, Tyazegul Mammedova,
that they learned that he
had been transferred from prison LB-E/12 in Lebap region – where head been
serving his sentence – to detention center LB-D/9 (also known as
"Abdy-Shukur" prison) in Turkmenabat. Although his mother visited the
detention center twice, she was not allowed to see him, with prison guards
indicating that a visit might only be possible after his trial. She also did
not receive any information about the new charges against him. However, during Mammedova’s
second visit on June 23, she was permitted to leave a parcel for her son, and
she met with his state-appointed lawyer, who conveyed the message from him
quoted above.
There are credible signs that the Turkmen
security services are seeking to suppress information about the case. The
Dushemov family's communication with contacts abroad appears to have been
intentionally hindered. On June 24, an unidentified man visited their home in
Bezmein, falsely claiming to respond to a Wi-Fi service request, after which
their internet connection was cut
off.
Moreover,
in a further worrying development, the family reportedly faced additional
pressure following a heartfelt video appeal addressed to President Serdar
Berdymukhamedov by Tyazegul Mammedova. In the appeal, Mammedova insisted on her
son’s innocence and urged the president to intervene, saying she ‘’couldn’t
bear’’ to see him imprisoned again. After the appeal was published on June 25, Murat
Dushemov’s younger brother, Alty, received a phone call from a local court
official inquiring about his alimony payments — a call that appeared intended
to intimidate him.
We call on the Turkmen government to immediately and unconditionally release Murat Dushemov and to stop harassing him and his family for his peaceful exercise of civic freedoms. Turkmenistan’s international partners should also press for Dushemov’s release and for an end to the broader pattern of persecution targeting civic activists, journalists and others critical of the Turkmen authorities.
