Exiled Turkmen dissident poet dies in Sweden
| Publisher | Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |
| Publication Date | 12 October 2016 |
| Cite as | Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Exiled Turkmen dissident poet dies in Sweden, 12 October 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5975a0dcc.html [accessed 21 May 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
October 12, 2016
Turkmen poet Shirali Nurmuradov (right) with his wife Natalia Shimovskaya (file photo)
Prominent dissident Turkmen poet Shirali Nurmuradov has died in Sweden at the age of 71.
Nurmuradov, a fierce critic of the authoritarian regime in his native Turkmenistan, was arrested and jailed to short terms for his poems by Turkmen authorities several times in the 1990s.
He went to Sweden in 1995 shortly after he was arrested in Moscow at Ashgabat's request.
Russia did not extradite him to Turkmenistan after his arrest and he was able to move to Poland and later to Sweden, where he got political asylum.
He became a member of Sweden's PEN-club and continued writing poetry.
Authorities in Turkmenistan have banned his verses.
Nurmuradov died on October 11 in a Stockholm health clinic after a long illness.
With reporting by chrono-tm.org
Link to original story on RFE/RL website
