The undersigned human rights organisations, which together represent the Jury for the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, condemn the continued harassment against 2021 Martin Ennals Award Finalist and woman human rights defender from Turkmenistan, Soltan Achilova. This morning, Soltan Achilova and her daughter were once again prevented from travelling to Geneva. As in 2023, Soltan Achilova was set to be recognized for her valuable contributions to the documentation of human rights violations in Turkmenistan by the Martin Ennals Foundation.
Soltan Achilova is a woman human rights defender and journalist, who continues to work in Turkmenistan, one of the most repressive and isolated countries in the world, ranking 176th out of 180 countries in terms of press freedom and working conditions for journalists. She has been reporting about her country for over a decade. Her pictures of daily life are one of the few sources of documentation of human rights violations occurring in Turkmenistan. As a result of this work, she remains under constant surveillance by Turkmen authorities and has suffered numerous incidents of harassment, intimidation, and threats. Despite the challenges, Soltan Achilova persists in her human rights work, regularly sending information and pictures outside the country so that government authorities can be held accountable. [see: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/tag/soltan-achilova/]
On the morning of 20 November 2024, Soltan Achilova and her daughter Maya Achilova were scheduled to travel from Ashgabat to Geneva, to participate in the Martin Ennals Award ceremony. At 6:30 a.m. local time, according to the information received by the Martin Ennals Foundation, a group of law enforcement officers pushed Soltan Achilova, her daughter and her daughter’s husband into an ambulance and brought them to the specialised hospital “Infectious Disease Control Centre” in the Choganly neighbourhood of Ashgabat, located near the Ashgabat International Airport. Maya Achilova reported to the Foundation that her husband, her mother and herself are being retained at the medical facility, guarded by the security forces, and that one of the security service agents is in possession of the keys to Soltan Achilova’s apartment. Thereby, Turkmen authorities have once again prevented Soltan Achilova from travelling to Geneva, Switzerland, where she would finally be recognized as a Finalist of the 2021 Martin Ennals Award for her documentation of land grabs and forced evictions of ordinary citizens in Ashgabat.
Turkmen authorities have prevented woman human rights defender Soltan Achilova from traveling freely outside of her country on several occasions; the latest occurring as recently as November 2023. In the early hours of 18 November 2023, Soltan Achilova and her daughter were stopped by Turkmen government officials from boarding their flight to Switzerland. A customs official took their passports, wet them with a damp rag and declared the passports to be ruined, preventing Soltan and Maya Achilova from boarding the plane. Despite receiving assurances at high-level from Turkmen authorities that Soltan Achilova would not be prevented from traveling once again, the authorities continue to harass the woman human rights defender with travel restrictions and arbitrary detention.
The human rights organisations that make up the Jury of the Martin Ennals Award, as well as the Martin Ennals Foundation, once again condemn Turkmen authorities for their continued harassment of woman human rights defender and photojournalist Soltan Achilova and her family members and call for their immediate release. The organisations jointly call upon the Turkmen authorities to provide all the necessary assistance to enable her travel outside of Turkmenistan. Finally, the organisations renew their calls for Turkmenistan to fully implement their human rights obligations, including, inter alia, allowing human rights defenders and journalists to conduct their work without fear of reprisals.
Following the writing of this statement, an article containing further details was published by the Chronicles of Turkmenistan, an online publication of the Turkmen Initiative for Human Rights, which, according to its author, has also been in contact with Soltan Achilova’s family.
Signatories:
Amnesty International
Human Rights Watch
World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)
International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
HURIDOCS
Human Rights First
Front Line Defenders
Brot für die Welt
International Commission of Jurists
The Martin Ennals Foundation
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 