About 1,700 inmates in Turkmenistan's jails have been granted amnesty, RFE/RL’s Turkmen Service reports.
President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov signed the amnesty decree on May 14.
Twenty-nine foreign nationals are reportedly among those who were released.
RFE/RL's correspondent in Ashgabat reports that the names of Turkmenistan's most prominent dissidents were not on the list.
The amnesty was announced to coincide with the Day of Revival, Unity and Poetry of Makhtumkuli, which is being marked on May 18.
Makhtumkuli was a prominent Turkmen poet in the 18th century who was born in what is now northern Iran.