Current News from the Turkmenistan Project

The following information is from the Turkmenistan Project from Eurasianet and lays out the results of the trial:

“One of the first litmus tests of the new leadership’s attitude toward
grassroots reform – the trial of environmentalist Andrei Zatoka –
yielded results that were mixed and virtually identical to those from
similar cases prosecuted under Niyazov. Zatoka’s arrest on December 17,
2006, provided the first major political trial since Niyazov’s death.
In a trial on January 31 likely hastened by international outcry,
Zatoka was convicted and handed a suspended sentence of 3 years and released
on parole, but must check in with the police once a month and may not
leave Turkmenistan except with government permission. The case suggested
that, in these still-early days of the post-Niyazov era, the interim
authorities will continue to be able to influence law-enforcement and the
judiciary to achieve political ends, and, like Niyazov, will offer some
concessions to international outcry over human rights abuses, but will
not tolerate grassroots reform efforts at home.”