RFE/RL Reporter, Turkmen Activists Arrested
June 19, 2006
PRAGUE, June 19, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- Ogulsapar Muradova, a freelance reporter for RFE/RL's Turkmen Service, has been arrested in Ashgabat.
Muradova is one of four people arrested in the Turkmen capital in the past few days.
The other three are two activists of the Bulgarian-based Turkmen Helsinki Foundation (THF) -- Annakurban Amanklychev and Yelena Ovezova -- and Sapardurdy Khajiev, a relative of the group's chairwoman, Tajigul Begmedova.
Begmedova told RFE/RL that police officers produced no warrants when they proceeded to the arrests.
She also identified Khajiev as her brother-in-law, a man she says is "neither a rights activist, nor a journalist."
Begmedova also said police took away Muradova's three adult children on June 19.