By empty (2/10/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Seven more people --including former Turkmen Foreign Minister Batyr Berdyev and Konstantin Shikhmuradov, brother of former Foreign Minister Boris Shikhmuradov -- were sentenced on 21 January to prison terms of between six and 25 years and branded traitors to the fatherland. All were found guilty of participating in the alleged 25 November attempt to assassinate President Saparmurat Niyazov. (ITAR-TASS).