Garabayev, Murad
Who, Why and How exiled: Garabayev was born in 1977 in Turkmenistan and currently lives in Moscow. On 4th March 2002 he was registered at the Russian Consulate in Turkmenistan as a Russian citizen living in Ashkhabad, on the 17th March 2002 Garabayev was issued a Russian passport. Garabayev was a former accountant at the Central Bank of Turkmenistan. (ECHR, 2007).
Stage 1 details (accusations/ charges/ Interpol notice/ extradition requests): On the 27th September 2002, the Prosecutor General of Turkmenistan sent a request to the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation to detain and extradite Garabayev on charges of withdrawing and not returning financial assets of $US 40 million from the correspondent account of the Central Bank of Turkmenistan in the Deutsche Bank AG (Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany) (ECHR, 2007).
Stage 2 details (arrest/ detention/ extradition): Garabayev was arrested in Moscow on the 27th September 2002 and placed in detention.( ECHR, Press Release,2007). On the 24th October 2002 Garabayev was extradited to Turkmenistan. Garabayev claimed that he was shown a copy of the decision to extradite him for the first time at the airport that day and that his request to see a lawyer was rejected. Whilst in detention in Turkmenistan, Garabayev was threatened with torture and reprisals against his family. Garabayev was detained in a 10m² cell with two other detainees, they were only allowed 15-20 minutes of exercise each day for the first twenty days, followed by two months of no exercise at all. Garabayev was questioned twice without a lawyer (ECHR, 2007)
Stage 3 details (attack/ abduction/ rendition/ torture/ assassination/ death):
Other actions during Stages 1–3 (dispossession/ overseas assets frozen/ intimidation/ action against associates/ …): Memorial, a Russian NGO, informed the Prosecutor General of the persecution of the employees of the Central Bank and their relatives, including the arrest of Garabayev’s mother, sister and uncle and confiscation of their property. (ECHR, 2007) After Garabayev was returned to Moscow, he learnt that his mother had been tried again and sentenced to 14 years' imprisonment and that similar sentences had been imposed on his sister and his uncle ( ECHR, 2007).
Legal status (refugee/ asylum seeker/ resident): Registered as a Russian citizen in 2002 (Memorial, 2008)
Current status: Garabayev’s extradition and detention was found to be unlawful, after reviews from the European Court of Human Rights and the Moscow City Court. On the 1st February 2003, Garabayev was returned to Moscow, where he was arrested and placed in pre-trial detention, charged with swindling on a large scale. On the 19th March 2004, the Russian Government provided its assurances that Garabayev would not be extradited to Turkmenistan in view of his undisputed Russian nationality. On 9 March 2004 the applicant was found guilty of using a forged document and sentenced to a 5,000 rouble fine. He was acquitted of the other charges and released from detention (ECHR, Press Release, 2007)
Press sources: ECHR, Press Release Chamber Judgement Garabayev v. Russia, European Court of Human Rights, 7th June 2007.[Online]. Available at: http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/app/conversion/pdf/?library=ECHR&id=003-2027556-2141648&filename=003-2027556-2141648.pdf. (Last accessed on the 15th April 2016) Memorial, "Туркменистан/Россия: бывший сотрудник ЦБ Туркменистана Мурад Гарабаев экстрадирован в Ашхабад с нарушением российского законодательства" 11th of November, 2008. [Online]. Available at: https://memohrc.org/news/turkmenistanrossiya-byvshiy-sotrudnik-cb-turkmenistana-murad-garabaev-ekstradirovan-v-ashhabad