The Russian Interior Ministry responded to a written request to disclose the whereabouts of the 37-year-old Turkmen opposition activist Azat Isakov , who stopped communicating on October 20, 2021.

Before his disappearance, Isakov managed to send the following message: “The police have come. If they find me, they can take me away. I hid".

Mikhail Karpunin, deputy head of the department for organizing operational search activities , said in an official letter that on October 22, the activist flew from Moscow's Domodedovo airport to Turkmenabat.

According to the text of the letter, formally it was not deportation, which can be suspended by the decision of the ECHR, but a “voluntary” decision to fly away.

Note that in connection with the coronavirus pandemic, Turkmenistan has suspended regular international flights. How Isakov managed to fly home, the representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs did not specify.

To organize the search for the activist, Karpunin suggested contacting the law enforcement agencies of Turkmenistan.

Since Isakov openly criticized the Turkmen government, his deportation to Turkmenistan could threaten the activist with torture and enforced disappearance.

Source: Chronicles of Turkmenistan