Turkmen Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights has confirmed the release of political prisoner Guljeldi Annaniyazov. Annaniyazov completed his five-year sentence in a penal colony in Garabogaz settlement on March 12 and has returned to Ashgabat.
In 1995, Annaniyazov was arrested for organizing a demonstration against Turkmenistan's first president, Saparmurat Niyazov, in Ashgabat. He was sentenced to 15 years but was pardoned in 1999. After briefly living in Russia, he was deported to Kazakhstan in 2002 following an alleged assassination attempt on Niyazov, with threats of being sent back to his homeland. With the assistance of the US, Annaniyazov relocated to Norway, where he was granted political asylum.
In 2008, upon Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov's rise to power, the dissident returned to Turkmenistan, only to be sentenced to 11 years on charges of illegal border crossing. Annaniyazov spent most of his term in complete isolation, first in Ovadan Depe prison and later in a solitary cell in Tejen colony. He was listed in the "Show Them Alive" campaign as his whereabouts were unknown for a long time.
When his 11-year term was nearing its end in 2019, Annaniyazov was not released but instead sentenced to an additional five years, this time in a settlement. He never saw his sentence and had no contact with a lawyer. Upon his transfer to the settlement, Annaniyazov's relatives were allowed to visit him and send him items for the first time since 2008.
