Still held, by the outlet’s count: the Baluch rights defender Mansur Mingelov, the civic activist Murat Dushemov, the bloggers Alisher Sakhatov, Abdulla Orusov and Farkhad Meymankuliyev, the activist Saddam Gulamov and the student Myalikberdy Allamuradov. Among the first released, it wrote, were people detained with heroin. The last time more than a thousand walked free at once was before independence day in 2023, when the count was 1,180; the 2024 anniversary pardon freed 736.
Khronika Turkmenistana, citing the state news agency TDH, reports the decree as signed on 25 September and the president’s instruction to defence minister Begench Gundogdyev and the heads of law enforcement to free the pardoned and return them to their families in the near future. The state portal’s readout of the enlarged sitting of the Cabinet and the State Security Council, which named the figure, appeared on Saturday night. Monday is a day off in Turkmenistan; the holiday runs to Tuesday.
Among the first released, it wrote, were people detained with heroin.