CCPR/C/122/D/2252/2013 totalitarian regimes in the world”,3 which has an “appalling human rights record”.4 Various bodies, including the General Assembly, the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the United States Department of State, as well as the Secretary-General and others, have reported on the fact that torture and ill-treatment were widespread in Turkmenistan in 2006. Such practices persist to this day. 2.23 Ms. Muradova was repeatedly the object of attention of State authorities for her work. Officials of the Ministry of National Security pressured her repeatedly to stop her human rights activities at the Turkmenistan Helsinki Foundation. Turkmen authorities followed her, kept her apartment under surveillance, and threatened to imprison her children and even to evict her from her home if she did not stop contributing to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Ms. Muradova’s arrest followed all these actions by the State party’s authorities, which were thus explicitly linked to her work as a human rights defender and journalist. This shows that her pretrial detention was not justified, and was used to stop her work and others’ willingness to engage in this kind of work. Immediately after her detention, police officials sought access to her computer, fax machine and mobile telephone, which were key tools in her work as a journalist. The circumstances leading to Ms. Muradova’s arrest and detention were thus related and show that she was targeted for her work as a journalist and human rights activist. 2.24 The televised statement of the authorities described Ms. Muradova’s work as “gathering slanderous information in order to sow discontent among the population”.5 The author submits that the treatment of Ms. Muradova had no justification in law. The denial of her rights was not necessary to ensure respect for the rights or reputations of others, or to protect public health or morals, as Ms. Muradova was merely attempting to expose the Government’s human rights abuses. The complaint 3.1 The author claims that article 6 (1) of the Covenant was violated because Ms. Muradova died in custody and the injuries found on her body indicate that she died as a result of torture and ill-treatment. 3.2 The State party’s authorities tortured and mistreated Ms. Muradova to punish her for her human rights activities and journalism and in an attempt to compel her to confess about her “subversive activities”. The criminal charges against Ms. Muradova were fabricated. The ill-treatment that eventually killed her amounts to torture in violation of article 7 of the Covenant. 3.3 The author alleges a violation of articles 6 (1) and 7 of the Covenant in conjunction with article 2 (2) and (3) in that the State party failed to take measures to protect Ms. Muradova from torture and from arbitrary deprivation of her life and has not conducted any investigation on how she died; it has only provided implausible and inconsistent explanations of the reasons for her death. 3.4 The law in force when Ms. Muradova was arrested provided for a prosecutor, and not a judge or other impartial officer, to rule on her detention. The author claims that the failure to bring her before a judge upon arrest violated the provisions of article 9 (3) of the Covenant. 3 4 5 Human Rights Watch, “Human Rights Watch submission to the United Nation Committee against Torture on Turkmenistan” (April 2011). Available at http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CAT/ Shared%20Documents/TKM/INT_CAT_NGO_TKM_46_10143_E.pdf. Amnesty International, “Keeping up the pressure: former POC Farid Tukhbatullin’s campaign for change in Turkmenistan”, Urgent Action in Focus (June 2005). The author also submits that Human Rights Watch called Ms. Muradova’s arrest and detention “politically motivated”. Amnesty International stated that there were “strong indications” that the charges against Ms. Muradova were “fabricated” and the Committee to Protect Journalists stated that she was persecuted for her journalistic work with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found that Ms. Muradova’s colleagues, Mr. Amanklyuchev and Mr. Khadzhiyev, were subjected to arbitrary detention because of the exercise of their fundamental rights to freedom of expression and association and to work in favour of the protection and promotion of human rights. 5