Current situation: Relatives informed the Turkmen service of RFE/RL that he died in prison, and his body was released by the authorities to the family for burial in the Ashgabat city morgue. He was buried by the family in Sakarchagiysky district of Mary region on February 9, 2016. He had been incarcerated in the Ovadan Depe prison.

Biography: Born in 1959. A Colonel, he was the chief of the counterintelligence division at the Ministry of National Security (MNS), Ashgabat. In the mid-90s, he worked as a Consul for Turkmenistan in Herat (Afghanistan) for three months. Between 1976 and 1981, he studied at the Turkmenistan State University’s Faculty of Foreign Languages. After graduation, he worked for the Committee for State Security (KGB) in Ashgabat about a year. Then, in Minsk, he took the KGB’s Higher Courses that prepared operational staff for KGB’s territorial security organs. He enrolled in a postgraduate program in Moscow and graduated in 1985 with a Ph.D. in philosophy. He returned to work at the KGB: a year in Ashgabat, then in Moscow, was sent by the First Main Directorate of the KGB of the USSR to the Soviet Embassy in China. He spent about 5 to 6 years in Japan doing business. He then returned to Moscow to work in the headquarters of the FSB. Approximately in 1997, he moved to Turkmenistan, where he began to work at the National Security Committee (KNB). He spent one year in foreign intelligence and two years as head of investigation. He is married, and has 4 children.

Arrest and conviction: Participation in the alleged assassination attempt on President Niyazov. He was detained in December 2002, although other sources say 3 days after the November events. The video recording of his “confession” aired on TV on December 18, 2002. He was sentenced on January 15, 2003 by Supreme Court of Turkmenistan under Articles 14 -101 Part 2, paragraphs “a”, “b”, “f”, “g”, “h”, “i”, “l”; 129 Part 3; 169 Part 1, 2; 174 Part 2; 176 Part 1; 214 Part 2; 218 Part 1, 2, 3; 231 Part 4, paragraphs “a”, “b”; 235 Part 2, paragraphs “a”, “b”; 254 Part 4, paragraphs “a”, “b”; 271 Part 3; 273 Part 1; 275 Part 1; 287 Part 3 of the Turkmenistan Criminal Code. He was given a life sentence with confiscation of his property.