Watchdog

RFE/RL is calling for the release of a Turkmen journalist who was imprisoned two years ago on charges that human rights groups and a UN panel have denounced as politically motivated.

Saparmamed Nepeskuliev disappeared on July 7, 2015, and was held incommunicado for weeks before a court in tightly controlled Turkmenistan found him guilty of narcotics charges that rights groups say were trumped up in retaliation for his reporting.

"Saparmamed is being punished for his journalism," RFE/RL President Thomas Kent said on July 11. "He was convicted without a lawyer or public trial on charges that we believe are entirely fabricated, and he should be released immediately."

The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention designated Nepeskuliev's detention as "arbitrary" in December 2015, declaring that "he has been deprived of liberty for having peacefully exercised his right to freedom of expression."

In July 2016, seven members of the U.S. House of Representatives sent a letter to Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov calling Nepeskuliev's imprisonment "unlawful" and urging his immediate release.

In video reports for RFE/RL, Nepeskuliev documented decrepit infrastructure and economic inequality in western Turkmenistan.

Other RFE/RL reporters and contributors in Turkmenistan have faced physical attacks, threats, and prosecution on charges supporters say are groundless.

Turkmenistan is ranked "not free" in Freedom House's 2017 press-freedom survey, scoring at the bottom of the scale with 98 points out of 100, on par with North Korea.

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev has signed into law a measure that bars people without previous government experience from running for president.

According to the law signed on July 11, only Kazakh citizens with at least five-years of experience at official posts can register as presidential candidates.

Additionally, under the constitution, presidential candidates must be at least 40-years-old, born in Kazhakstan, have at least 15 years of residence in the country, and speak fluent Kazakh.

The presidential term is five years long and one person may only serve two consecutive terms.

However, Nazarbaev, who has ruled the oil-rich Central Asian nation of 18 million since 1989, can be elected an unlimited number of times in accordance with the special Law on the First President.

Kazakhstan's last presidential election was held in April 2015, and Nazarbaev, 77, won his fifth term with 97.7 percent of vote.

None of elections held in Kazakhstan have been considered free or fair by the West.

With reporting by zakon.kz