On 7 December, Turkmen activist Malikberdy Allamyradov living in Russia stopped contacting him. This was reported by “Chronicle of Turkmenistan” referring to the activist’s colleagues.
According to their information, Malikberdy is known for the fact that in 2021, while still a student at the Kalmyk State University in Elista, he held a solitary picket against restrictions on currency conversion, introduced by the Turkmen authorities. The police regarded such actions as a violation of the picket rules and detained him. However, later the court acquitted Malikberdy, having seen no offense in the actions of the student.
Then the guy continued to criticise the authorities of Turkmenistan on the Internet. A few months ago, he was forced to change his place of residence because he received a warning from one of his acquaintances about the authorities’ intention to deport him to Turkmenistan.
Now Malikberda’s disappearance is alarming because, according to friends, they found traces of struggle and blood in the room where he lived, but he was no longer there.
Recall that this is not the only case of the strange disappearance of Turkmen opposition activists both in Turkmenistan and on the territories of other countries. Earlier we wrote that on 19 May 2023, blogger and opposition activist Farhat Meimankuliev was kidnapped from a flat in Istanbul and allegedly deported to Turkmenistan. Since everything happened on a weekend, the lawyers were unable to get to the detainee in time to stop his deportation. Later, according to human rights activists, on 2 August, a fellow villager of the blogger from the Garashsyzlyk district of Lebap region reported that Meimankuliyev was sentenced to 22 years in prison. The blogger’s relatives do not know where and when the trial took place and under what articles he was found guilty.
Another activist, Mansur Mingelov, who advocated for the rights of Baloch people living in Turkmenistan, was sentenced in 2012 to 22 years in prison on some fake charges. The activist pleaded not guilty.
