From Plugged In | March 2007
- ''We won! Andrei is free!''
Environmental
activist Andrei Zatoka is free! His wife, Yevgenia Zatoka, contacted Amnesty
International with the good news in February. ''We won,” she
wrote. Andrei is free!'' ''We are grateful to all who took part in the campaign
for Andrei's defense, all who were sympathetic and helped.''
Andrei Zatoka was detained on December 17 as he was traveling to Moscow from his home town of Dashoguz, Turkmenistan to attend a meeting with fellow activists of the International Social and Ecological Union. In fact, AI believes he was targeted because of his environmental activism. A Dashoguz city court sentenced Zatoka to a suspended sentence of three years on January 31 and ordered his immediate release. Amnesty International’s Urgent Actions Network swung into action following his arrest sending appeals on his behalf to the government.
AI has been seriously concerned about the widespread abuse of civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights in Turkmenistan where the authorities have a record of clamping down on dissidents, including civil society activists, despite Turkmenistan's obligations under international human rights law. Activists have been subjected to interrogation and other harassment and have in some cases been arbitrarily detained, or imprisoned and tortured or ill-treated.
In September 2006, journalist and prisoner of conscience Ogulsapar Muradova died in custody, and AI continues to press officials to conduct a thorough and independent investigation into her death because of allegations she was tortured in detention.
Said Natasha Nummedal, Director of AIUSA’s Urgent Action Network:
“Andrei Zatoka's release is a great victory in a country where we
have had few successes recently.”
Photo Credits: © Private
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