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Wednesday, 17 April 2002
RARE PUBLIC PROTEST IN TURKMENISTAN
By empty (4/17/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Some 300 Turkmen demonstrated outside the headquarters of the Committee for National Security (KNB) in Ashgabat on 15 April, and about 50 turned out the following day to protest how KNB officers treat ordinary citizens. The demonstrators demanded that malefactors in the security services be punished, following widespread revelations of abuse of power, including drug smuggling and the raping of Turkmen citizens by KNB officers. President Saparmurat Niyazov began purging the ranks of the KNB with mass firings on 4 March.
Some 300 Turkmen demonstrated outside the headquarters of the Committee for National Security (KNB) in Ashgabat on 15 April, and about 50 turned out the following day to protest how KNB officers treat ordinary citizens. The demonstrators demanded that malefactors in the security services be punished, following widespread revelations of abuse of power, including drug smuggling and the raping of Turkmen citizens by KNB officers. President Saparmurat Niyazov began purging the ranks of the KNB with mass firings on 4 March. (RFE/RL)