The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees has labeled Turkmen opposition leader Gulgeldy Annanyyazov a political refugee, local media reported Wednesday.
Kazakh media reported that the United States was ready to welcome Annanyyazov, 42, but only after he was cured of tuberculosis. The Turkmen opposition leader is being held in a temporary detention facility for illegally crossing the border between his country and Kazakhstan.
"The U.N. is currently holding talks with several countries that are ready to receive and cure the patient," the Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency quoted a source in the Kazakh bureau of the UNHCR office as saying.
Annanyyazov was one of eight men -- the so-called Ashgabat Eight -- arrested and convicted of criminal offenses as a result of a demonstration in Ashgabat, the Turkmen capital, on July 12, 1995. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the largely peaceful protests against economic hardships and President Saparmurat Niyazov. Following international pressure, Annanyyazov was freed in January 1999, but was banned from leaving the country.
Russian border guards at Moscow's Domodedovo airport detained Annanyyazov on Sept. 1 after he arrived on a flight from Aktau, Kazakstan, with false travel documents. He is said to have crossed the border between Turkmenistan and Kazakstan illegally. He was returned to Kazakhstan where he was reportedly placed in a temporary detention facility.
Human rights groups called on the Kazakhs not to repatriate Annanyyazov.
"If returned to Turkmenistan, Gulgeldi Annanyyazov could be convicted for illegal border crossing and will be at grave risk of torture in detention," Amnesty International said last month.
