Turkmenistan: CFWIJ condemns the physical assault and persistent harassment of Gurban Soltan Achilova by state authorities

February 20, 2021- Gurban Soltan Achilova, a senior journalist at radio, “Azatlyk” has faced persistent harassment at the hands of state security. On different occasions, Soltan was repeatedly assaulted in recent years in November 2017 and in May 2018. She was barred to leave the country in August 2019. The journalist has faced persistent onslaught in the hands of law enforcement officials of the country for doing her job sincerely. CFWIJ condemns this tormenting treatment towards the journalist and asks authorities to stop harassing her. We demand government officials and law enforcement to hold the involved unprofessional officials accountable for their unjustified intimidation towards Soltan. 

68 years old, the award-winning journalist has faced persistent mistreatment from state authorities for a long time. On January 4, 2011, a group of unidentified men attacked her residence in Ashgabat. Soltan was woken up with loud sounds of broken glass in the early hours of the morning. She found the broken glass on all her windows and observed almost a dozen young people leaving the scene. The journalist reported the incident to the police but was told that no car was available as the patrol vehicles were busy in the security of the country's leaders. Soltan again reached out to the police after some time to file her complaint. That time a police officer suggested, “she files a complaint at her place of employment”. 

On November 27, 2017, Gurban Soltan was filming the scenes at a demolition site in the Keshi area of the capital, when four uniformed men approached her and took her to an undisclosed location. Later the police officer erased the contents of her camera before returning it to her. The journalist also stated that her arms were twisted while she was trying to film the scene at the demolition site. On May 9, 2018, Soltan was again assaulted in the same manner when she was taking pictures for the Victory Day report. The journalist was approached by plainclothes police officers who confiscated her camera and dragged her into a car by grabbing her from her arm. They threatened to charge her with drug crimes. After deleting the pictures, her camera was returned. Police officials followed her until Soltan got on a bus and left. 

On March 11, 2019, Gurban Soltan was denied traveling from Ashgabat to Tbilisi via transit in Istanbul. She was informed by the migration service that she is barred from leaving the country. Upon her request for clarification regarding the decision, Soltan received a response on August 2, 2019. “We inform you that your application, received on 03.05.2019, has been studied. We also received responses concerning it from other relevant organizations. As a result, restrictions on leaving the country remain in force for you,” said the letter from the migration service.

The Coalition For Women In Journalism is deeply concerned about authorities' mistreatment of a senior journalist. We demand the government of Turkmenistan holds the state officials accountable involved in unjustified torture against Gurban Soltan. We stand in solidarity with Soltan and commend her courage to practice journalism after all the hardships she has endured.