Date of Birth: 2 February 1947, Dushanbe, Tajikistan

Arrest and conviction: He was detained in early December 2002. He was sentenced on January 21, 2003 by the Ashgabat City Court 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 sentenced to 18 years imprisonment: 5 years in prison, the rest in a penal colony. His property would be confiscated. Following the sentence, he would live in a designated place for 5 years and would be prohibited from holding substantive and responsible management positions for 3 years.

Biography: Rustem Djumaev is a doctor by training, graduated from medical school in
Baku. In Tajikistan he worked for more than 20 years in the Ministry of Health of Tajikistan: from epidemiologist to the chief sanitary doctor of the republic. He was ranked in the highest category of doctors in the USSR. In 1992, due to the illness of his father, who lived in Bayramali, he moved to Ashgabat. In Ashgabat, he starting working in the Ministry of Defence and in retirement, he took a job at the Foreign Ministry of Turkmenistan, as the Head of Affairs, where he worked until 2001. He was then sent to work in the Embassy of the Republic of Turkmenistan in the Republic of Belarus. In August 2002, he was immediately withdrawn and fired from the post. In October, Rustem had a heart attack and was hospitalized. In December, still ill, he was arrested on false charges of involvement in the alleged “attempt on Niyazov,” and friendship with Shikhmuradov.