Russian Diplomats Report No Complaints From Imprisoned Turkmen Activist Saddam Gulamov

Russian embassy officials in Turkmenistan have visited activist Saddam Gulamov, who is serving his sentence at the LB-E/12 penal colony in Lebap Region. Gulamov was said to have described his detention conditions and food as acceptable, and his health as satisfactory, according to a letter sent by Kamil Magomedov, deputy director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Third CIS Department, to Gulamov’s relatives. According to the document, Russian diplomats met Gulamov in person at the correctional facility in late May. The letter states that during the conversation, Gulamov described his detention conditions and food as acceptable, and said his health was satisfactory. Embassy staff also reported that they had observed no visible signs of health problems. The letter notes, however, that Gulamov intends to file a petition seeking changes to the conditions of his imprisonment. Other inmates at the LB-E/12 colony had earlier told Turkmen.news that, at least until autumn 2025, Gulamov had been held continuously in a disciplinary isolation cell. According to their accounts, the prolonged isolation negatively affected his psychological condition. There were also reports of several suicide attempts. Previously published documents show that Gulamov, who was extradited from Russia, was sentenced to five years in prison. The ruling was handed down by the Ashgabat City Court on May 13, 2024. Before being returned to Turkmenistan, Gulamov had been wanted in his home country over social media posts in which he criticized the authorities and former President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov personally. According to the official wanted persons database, Gulamov was accused of calling for the violent overthrow of the constitutional order and publicly inciting extremist actions through the media. The exact charges under which the final sentence was issued remain unknown. Through Russian embassy staff, Gulamov also informed his relatives that he intends to challenge what he describes as procedural violations with the help of a lawyer. These may concern the circumstances of his arrest and extradition, as well as the trial itself.

Extradited Turkmen Activist Sentenced to Five Years in Prison

Turkmen activist Saddam Gulamov, who was extradited from Russia to Turkmenistan last year, has been sentenced to five years in prison, according to Turkmen.news, citing documents it said were obtained from Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office. The new information appears to revise earlier reports that Gulamov had received an eight-year sentence. Those accounts were based on sources in Turkmenistan’s law enforcement system and on information from inmates at the LB-E/12, also known as the Seydi Prison Labor Camp, where Gulamov is reportedly serving his sentence. According to Turkmen.news, Turkmenistan’s Prosecutor General’s Office requested Gulamov’s extradition. Russian authorities approved the request on December 20, 2023, and transferred him to Turkmen law enforcement agencies on March 1, 2024, after the decision entered into force. The documents cited by the outlet say the Judicial Panel of the Ashgabat City Court sentenced Gulamov on May 13, 2024, to five years in prison. They do not specify the charges or the legal provisions under which he was convicted. Turkmen.news also reported that Russian Embassy employees in Turkmenistan had visited Gulamov in prison and asked about his conditions of detention. No details about the outcome of those visits have been made public. The outlet said records from Turkmenistan’s wanted persons database showed that, as of 2021, Gulamov was being sought under Article 175, Part 2, of the country’s Criminal Code, which concerns public calls to violently change the constitutional order through mass media, and under Article 175-2, Part 2, which concerns public calls to extremist activity through media channels. Both offenses carried maximum prison terms of five years. As previously reported by The Times of Central Asia, Gulamov publicly criticized Turkmen authorities and former president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov on social media in 2020 and 2021. His posts focused on food shortages, economic difficulties, the government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the official response to a destructive hurricane. In several posts, Gulamov called on citizens not to be afraid of what he described as authoritarian rule. Human rights organizations have repeatedly expressed concern about the treatment of political activists and government critics in Turkmenistan, one of the world’s most closed countries, where independent political activity and public dissent remain tightly restricted.