TURKMENABAT, Turkmenistan -- An RFE/RL correspondent based in Turkmenistan's northeastern city of Turkmenabat has been detained by local police.
Rovshen Yazmuhamedov, 30, has worked for RFE/RL since September.
His reports have focused mainly on social issues.
On May 9, Yazmuhamedov's relatives informed RFE/RL's Turkmen Service that he had been detained three days earlier.
Rovshen Yazmuhamedov
"[Rovshen] left from home at around 2:30 p.m. on May 6, saying he would come back soon. Then he did not return," his mother, Parcha Yazmuhamedova, explained. "I waited for him until 2:30 a.m. He did not come back in the morning either, then I received a call from them. A prosecutor was calling and asking for his passport. He said 'Rovshen is with us.' They told me to bring a copy of his passport. [Once there] I was waiting outside for awhile, then they called me in. Rovshen was there, they showed him to me."
Authorities have not given any explanation for Yazmuhamedov's detention.
According to the relatives, the journalist is being held at a detention center run by the Interior Ministry's Directorate No. 6, which is mainly involved in investigating organized crime and terrorism-related cases.
The relatives tell RFE/RL Yazmuhamedov has been interrogated by security services several times in the past.
In the meantime, Yazmuhamedov’s mother said authorities were installing monitoring devices around the family’s home.
"They have been installing [cameras around our house] since morning. I don't understand why they are doing this," Yazmuhamedova said.
RFE/RL correspondent Ogulsapar Muradova was detained in June 2006 and convicted of weapons possession charges two months later at a closed trial that lasted some two hours.
Muradova was sentenced to six years in prison, but in September 2006 her family was informed she had died in custody.
A government autopsy, whose results were never released to the family or made public, reportedly found that Muradova died from blows to the back of her head.
Turkmenistan is one of the most isolated countries in the world. The government greatly restricts foreigners’ access to the country and the ability of its citizens to travel outside the country.
All media in the country is state-controlled and it remains difficult to obtain information from outside media sources.
Paval Vinahradau was released from prison in Minsk on May 4.
Belarusian Activist Detained Again After Serving Jail Term
MINSK -- An opposition activist in Belarus has been detained by police just days after finishing a 12-day jail term.
Paval Vinahradau's wife said two police officers visited their apartment early on May 9.
Svyatlana Vinahradava said the police did not give any explanation or present an arrest warrant and demanded that her husband go with them.
Vinahradau was released from custody on May 4 after being sentenced to jail on April 23 for holding an illegal protest.
That day, Vinahradau unfolded a poster with a picture of jailed former presidential candidate Mikalay Statkevich and the banned Belarusian national flag in Minsk.
Statkevich is serving a six-year prison term for "organizing mass disturbances" following authoritarian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka's reelection in December 2010.
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