OE RIGHTS FOUNDATION Empire State Building, #4202 New York,NY 10118 Tel 41-212.246-8086 infohrtorg hor Hahorss Present ano CEO | Naseer Oud Ethmane dan Gy Ron Jacobs Alexander Lloyd Jacqueline Moudeina ‘Amir Ahead Nasr Park Sang Hak Robert Si MutabarTadjbaeve Vela Havel Coaian Evens June 12, 2017 Anténio Guterres Secretary-General of the United Nations Office of the Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General United Nations, $-233 New York, NY 10027 Via email Dear Mr. Secretary-General Guterres, We write to you in anticipation of your June 13, 2017 meeting with Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, president of Turkmenistan. During this meeting, we respectfully urge you (1) to call on President Berdymukhammedov to put an end to the torture and arbitrary imprisonment of 18 Turkmen currently held in the Ovadandepe prison; and (2) to call on him to put an end to the torture, harassment and systematic repression of individuals linked with Turkish- Turkmen educational institutions. HRF believes that 18 innocent Turkmen have been illegally and brutally targeted for their association with Turkish-Turkmen educational institutions. The torture and arbitrary arrests of the 18 Turkmen is part of Turkmenistan’s wider crackdown on individuals and institutions worldwide that follow the teachings of Turkish religious leader Fethullah Giilen, who President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey alleges was responsible for the July 2016 failed coup 4’état in that country. During your first trip to Central Asia as Secretary-General, you are in a strategic position to influence Turkmenistan’s government to release these 18 Turkmen as well as others that are arbitrarily imprisoned, and to rid Turkmen society at large from the scourge of torture and the horrendous prison conditions that have been imposed on these individuals. To coincide with your visit to Turkmenistan, we have also submitted an individual complaint to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention requesting that it initiate proceedings to investigate the imprisonment and torture of the 18 Turkmen for peacefully expressing their right to freedom of association, and to issue an opinion condemning the state of Turkmenistan for the egregious human rights violations committed against them. According to credible information received by HIRF, the 18 individuals have been held incommunicado since September, October, and November 2016, and have been subjected to “relentless and systematic torture and degrading treatment,” carried out during interrogation sessions aimed at obtaining false confessions.Additionally, the 18 Turkmen have been wrongfully convicted under Article 177 (“Incitement to social, national, ethnic, racial or religious hostility”), Article 275 (“Organization or participation in organized group, criminal organization or other forms of criminal organization), and Article 275 (“Financing of criminal structures”) of Turkmenistan’s criminal code. The court order for this case did not present any evidence that the 18 Turkmen committed any violent activities or were part of any criminal organization. During your visit to Central Asia, we would respectfully ask you to bear in mind that Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan are led by authoritarian leaders whose regimes are responsible for grave human rights abuses. ‘Turkmenistan is not a democratic country where the fundamental rights of citizens are respected, or where a vibrant civil society operates under the democratic guarantees of a free press and an independent judiciary. Instead, Turkmenistan is a brutal dictatorship ruled by a cruel tyrant, so the ordeal suffered by the 18 Turkmen has taken place and continues to take place in this context of widespread state repression. Berdymukhammedov has imposed his authoritarian rule over Turkmenistan since 2007. In a country that has never experienced a free and fair election, Berdymukhammedov was “elected” to his third term in February 2017 with 97.69% of votes — a clear indication of the rigged nature of the electoral process, In Turkmenistan the judicial system is subservient to Berdymukhammedov who has the power to appoint and remove judges without being subject to legislative review. His authoritarian regime denies people the right to a public trial and access to a defense attorney, in violation of Articles 79 and 80 of Turkmenistan’s Criminal Procedure Code, Arbitrary arrests, solitary confinement, and torture are among the most significant human rights abuses that plague Turkmenistan’s repressive judicial system on a daily basis. ‘As you complete the first half of your first year in office as the head of the United Nations, we urge you to stand by the human rights values of the organization and exert your immense influence to pressure the Turkmen government to do the right thing. Once again, we respectfully request that you call on President Berdymukhammedov to end the torture and arbitrary detention of 18 Turkmen currently held in the Ovadandepe prison, and to put an end to the harassment and systematic repression of individuals linked with Turkish-Turkmen educational institutions. If you have any questions about the case, feel free to reach out to HF at 212-246-8486 or send an email to thor@hrf.org. Sincerely, ‘Thor Halvorsen Garry Kasparov President and CEO Chairman