15. 09. 2006

IMPRISONED RADIO FREE EUROPE REPORTER DIES

ASHKABAD, September 15, 2006 (UPI)- Ogulsapar Muradova, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's correspondent in Turkmenistan, has died while imprisoned. The cause of Muradova's death is unclear, the news agency said. Her family described an injury on her head but said they have been unable to bring a medical examiner to do an examination because police have blockaded the area around their apartment. Her daughters were only allowed to take Muradova's body home through the intervention of the U.S. embassy in Ashkabad. Muradova was recently convicted in a closed trial of possession of ammunition and sentenced to six years in prison. Relatives had been unable to see her since her arrest in June. This is a terrible outcome of a long ordeal and a shocking indictment of the Turkmen regime's callous and inhumane treatment of the people it rules, said Jeff Trimble, Radio Free Europe's acting president. Tajigul Begmedova, president of the Turkmen Helsinki Foundation, which is based in Bulgaria, said Muradova was healthy before her arrest and any claims that she died from sickness would be an absolute lie.