Ashyrbay Bekiev

Extra Bio Info:

Ashyrbay Bekiev is imprisoned for his religious belief and activity. 

On May 16, 2023, Russian authorities in Volkhov, Leningrad region, detained Bekiev on illegal immigration charges after his passport had expired. Turkmen authorities, however, had sought Bekiev's extradition from Russia for alleged crimes related to his religious activity. In 2009, Bekiev had legally immigrated to Russia from Turkmenistan. Around that same time and the years following, Turkmen authorities had persecuted Bekiev's family in Turkmenistan for their peaceful religious activities. In December 2015, Turkmen authorities had placed Bekiev on the country's wanted list for allegedly promoting Islamic fundamentalism and seeking to spread extremist, "Wahhabi" ideas in Turkmenistan by conducting religious classes with Turkmen students in Russia. Human rights organizations argued the allegations were fabricated and that Bekiev engaged in peaceful religious activities outside of the Turkmen government's strict regime of control. In May 2016, Russian authorities subsequently arrested Bekiev and sought to deport him to Turkmenistan. However, in May 2017, the European Court of Human Rights suspended that extradition request, and Bekiev was released that same month.

On May 19, 2023, the Krasnoselsky District Court of St. Petersburg ordered Bekiev's deportation to Turkmenistan.

On August 30, 2023, Russian authorities deported Bekiev to Turkmenistan.

On October 7, 2023, it was reported that Bekiev had been located in a pretrial detention center in Dashoguz, Turkmenistan.

On October 12, 2023, it was reported that a court in Dashoguz sentenced Bekiev to 23 years in prison. Original reporting indicated that the court hearing had lasted 10 minutes but additional reports question that claim, proposing it was a closed trial instead. The charges brought against Bekiev are unknown, apart from accusations of "Islamic extremism."