CCPR/C/113/D/2079/2011 2.8 The author further submits that, because he is in prison, he cannot obtain any documents relating to the pretrial investigation and subsequent court hearing, nor does he have any copies of the trial transcript, his appeals and complaints. He further claims that all his correspondence, both incoming and outgoing, is intercepted and censored by the prison administration.1 2.9 The author submits that the State party should cease persecuting, release him immediately, and compensate him and his family for the material and moral damages the have suffered in the context of his unlawful arrest, trial and conviction, as well as the torture he was subjected to by officials of the State party. The complaint 3.1 The author claims that by subjecting him to torture and inhuman and degrading conditions of detention and imprisonment, the State party violated his rights under articles 7 and 10, paragraph 1, of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. 3.2 The author also submits that the State party violated his rights under article 9, paragraph 1, of the Covenant, as he was unlawfully apprehended and detained for three days, without his relatives being informed of his detention. 3.3 Furthermore, the author claims that the State party violated his right to a fair and public hearing under article 14, paragraph 1, of the Covenant. His motions for the court to call defence witnesses were rejected and his lawyer was put under pressure to make him confess his guilt, in violation of article 14, paragraph 3 (e) and (g), of the Covenant. 3.4 Finally, the author claims that his rights under article 17 of the Covenant were violated, as the State party had interfered with his correspondence with his family and relatives and, during first two years of his imprisonment, his family did not know about his whereabouts and he could not communicate with them. State party’s observations on merits 4.1 On 6 January 2012, the State party submitted its observations on the merits of the present communication. The State party claims that, in 2002, Sapardurdy Khadzhiev was sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment further to under article 292 of the Criminal Code of Turkmenistan, for possession of drugs with the intention of selling them. He was released in 2003 at the discretion of the President of Turkmenistan, under the Clemency Act. On 23 June 2006, he was again arrested and charged with an offence relating to possession of weapons. On 25 August 2006, the author was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment by the Ashgabat City Court.2 4.2 The State party submits that Mr. Khadzhiev was placed in a “specialized correctional institution, BK-K/6, in the town of Akdash in the Balkan region of Turkmenistan. The penitentiary records show that, while he was in the institution, he received 11 visits from his relatives, and received food parcels on 15 occasions. Furthermore, he sought the health services of the penitentiary institution on six occasions. According to the State party, his health is “satisfactory”, without further details, and he “enjoys all the rights and opportunities provided for persons in his category”. 1 2 4 On 17 January 2012, the Committee requested the State party to provide documents relating to this case, such as copies of the decision by the Office of the Prosecutor and the Ashgabat City Court, transcripts of the trial and any other documents pertaining to the case of Sapardurdy Khadzhiev. In an additional submission dated 11 June 2012, the State party provided excerpts from its Criminal Code, more specifically, the text of articles 185, 220, 228, 287 and 292.