OSCE Media Representative asks for charges to be dropped against two journalists in Turkmenistan

VIENNA, 6 April 2004 - The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Miklos Haraszti, asked the Turkmen Government to drop all charges against Rakhim Esenov and Ashyrguly Bayryev, who were arrested by the National Security Ministry on 26 February and 1 March 2004, respectively. Both worked for Radio Free Europe. Even as they were subsequently released, the investigations into their cases are ongoing and they are under travel restrictions.

According to media non-governmental organizations, the charges are related to the act of 'smuggling' Mr. Esenov's novel from Russia, a novel that is banned in Turkmenistan.

"The OSCE has, since the Helsinki Final Act, focused on the importance of the free flow of information and ideas as well as freedom of expression," said Miklos Haraszti, in a letter he wrote to Turkmen Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov.

"These rights are reiterated over and over again in OSCE commitments throughout the past decades, including an emphasis on the freer and wider distribution of printed matters across the borders of OSCE participating States. This seems to be an even more natural right of a citizen in the case of his own novel."

Miklos Haraszti, a writer and former dissident, was himself arrested in 1973 in his native Hungary for 'smuggling' the manuscript of his book, A Worker in a Worker's State, outside the country.

The OSCE Representative hoped that Mr. Esenov and Mr. Bayryev will soon be able to continue their work as journalists, and that the Government of Turkmenistan can constructively contribute to the Helsinki spirit by dropping the charges against them.