Gay Bashings and Corruption: Prison Life in Turkmenistan

A miraculous thing happened last summer at MR-K/16 prison in Turkmenistan. On July 25, Stanislav Romaschenko, a Russian citizen convicted of unarmed robbery, was pardoned and released by the Turkmen authorities. He had served 11 years of his 19-year sentence. Romaschenko, who was 21 at the time of the 2003 robbery, admits his part in…

Freedom in the World Survey: No Former Soviet States ‘Free’

The 2016 Freedom in the World survey has ranked each of the former Soviet states as either ‘Partly’ free or ‘Not’ free. The annual report, conducted by the US-based Freedom House, gives a score between 1 (free) and 7 (not free) for political rights and civil liberties in each nation and disputed territory. Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine…

Wikileaks Reveals the US Embassy’s Summary of Gay Life in Turkmenistan

TURKMENISTAN’S GAY UNDERGROUND: HIDDEN, GROWING AND AT RISK Date: 2008 August 21, 04:08 (Thursday) Canonical ID: 08ASHGABAT1095_a Original Classification: UNCLASSIFIED,FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY 2. (SBU) SUMMARY. Officially nonexistent and a taboo topic, Turkmenistan’s gay population is finding partners with greater frequency. Men will first meet in public places and then secretly continue seeing each other,…

Fleeing from Turkmenistan

According to asylum seekers, it’s better to be a lesbian in the U.S. than in most other places in the world. Maybe I’ve become too cynical, but when I think about places that are friendly to lesbians and gays, the United States — politically, at least — doesn’t top my list. But unfortunately, much of…