On February 19, Turkmen authorities deported Roman Pugachev to Uzbekistan, after stripping him of his mobile phone and money. Ccorrespondent of “Jarayon” learned the details of this case full of disrespect and cynicism.
According to Pugachev, Turkmen security forces were extremely rude to him. At one point, there was a real threat of arrest.
Passing the Turkmen-Uzbek border through the checkpoint “Shovot”, Kazakhstani did not have an opportunity to call his friends, because all the phone numbers were saved in the memory of a mobile phone taken away at the border. Left without a choice, Pugachev had to agree on the high price of the Uzbek taxi driver, who drove him to Tashkent.
As it turned out, the Turkmen special services followed Pugachev in Dashoguz, the administrative center of Dashoguz region of Turkmenistan. They did not like that the fact that religious Kazakhstani met with local Protestant Christians. Stripping him of his mobile phone and money, they advised Pugachev to appeal “for help to his god.”
According to the Turkmen security services, meeting with fellow believers is a great crime for which he should be severely punished. But Pugachev was still lucky, as border guards, honoring the day of national flag of Turkmenistan, treated him leniently.
It is likely that local security officials treated the Kazakhstani citizen with the knowledge of official Ashkhabad. Turkmen authorities have only recently settled a difficult situation with the citizens of Kazakhstan, sentenced to long prison terms in November 2012 for illegally crossing the border. They were released on the order of President Berdymukhamedov to grant clemency on the eve of the national holiday.
Several media outlets reported that on October 19 last year, the Turkmen border guards detained seven citizens of Kazakhstan, four of whom were from the immigration police of Karakiya region of Mangistau region, which borders with Turkmenistan, and the three hunters from Zhetybai village.
It was reported that several Kazakh policemen, returning from their work trip in Bolashak station, and several villagers, got lost on their way and found themselves on the other side of the border, where they were arrested by Turkmen border guards.
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