The acts of pardon will not be applied to those convicted for crimes related to corruption and illicit drug trafficking in Turkmenistan. Relevant amendments came into force in Turkmenistan’s Criminal Code on 13 December, 2019.
Pursuant to the amendments published in the newspaper “Neitralny Turkmenistan”,“the acts of pardon and amnesty will not be applied to convicts sentenced for crimes related to corruption, illicit drug trafficking, psychotropic substances and precursors”.
It remains unknown whether this regulation applies to those who is already serving a prison sentence and whether it will be applied to former Interior Minister Isgender Mulikov, the trail against whom was held on 29 November, two weeks before the amendments were adopted, cording to sources of “Chronicles of Turkmenistan”.
Mulikov and former Chairperson of Turkmenistan’s Migration Office Meylis Nobatov were sentenced for a 15 year imprisonment term on charges of corruption.
According to Chairperson of the Independent Lawyer’s Association of Turkmenistan Timur Misrikhanov, the regulation should not be applied to those who had committed crimes before its adoption.
In 2019 President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov pardoned a total of 4188 convicts.