He was put on the international wanted list in Uzbekistan after refusing to cooperate with special services.
On April 27, a 34-year-old activist and blogger, Jumasapar Dadebayev, was released from a deportation center on April 27, according to reports from Turkey.
He was detained in Istanbul on October 25, 2020, when the police tried to prevent a street rally, which was being prepared by activists of the Turkmen protest movement. It soon became clear that Uzbekistan was looking for the detainee through Interpol.
Dadebaev, an ethnic Turkmen from Karakalpakstan, is known as a blogger and civil activist. After emigrating to Turkey, starting in 2018, he collaborated with the independence movement of Karakalpakstan and the Turkmen opposition, announced the creation of the «Dostluk» party, which speaks on behalf of the Turkmen of Karakalpakstan. According to Dadebaev, in summer of 2018, the special services of Uzbekistan put pressure on him, threatening to put him on the international wanted list as a “terrorist” if he refused to cooperate with them in Turkey, but he refused this “offer”.
In 2016, when Dadebaev returned from Russia to Uzbekistan, he was detained by the Uzbek National Security Service, tortured and forced to agree to work for them abroad. In particular, according to Dadebaev, it was supposed to be used to organize a provocation in Moscow, the purpose of which was to arrest a member of the Human Rights Center «Memorial» Bakhrom Khamroev, who criticized the Uzbek regime. However, once outside of Uzbekistan, Dadebaev exposed these plans.
An important role in the release of Dadebaev was played by the legal assistance of a Turkish lawyer, who was approached by Human Rights Center «Memorial» and the Turkmen Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights. Our organization also prepared a letter of support, which was used in the consideration of the case in the Turkish court.
