Yusup Kuliyev, who was feared to have “disappeared” following his arrest on 20 October by agents of the Committee for State Security (KGB), was detained until around 6 November, when he was released. Sources report that his release was due to serious ill health caused by his having been tortured during detention. He is now under house arrest in Ashgabat. He has reportedly been charged with preparing an attempt to assassinate President Saparmurad Niyazov. Two other people are in detention in the KGB investigation-isolation prison in Ashgabat on the same charges, Khoshali Garayev and Mukhammad Aymuradov. Both men are Russian citizens of ethnic Turkmen origin. They were arrested in Tashkent on 27 October. Sources have claimed that the charges against the three men are fabricated and intended to punish them for their opposition sympathies.
