PEN
American Center today named Mohammed Benchicou,
a newspaper publisher already in prison
and facing 50 additional sentences for his
newspaper’s independent reporting, and Rakhim
Esenov, a novelist, historian, and Radio
Free Europe correspondent whose works are
banned and who has been barred from traveling
outside the reclusive, repressive country
of Turkmenistan, as recipients of its 2006
PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Awards.
The awards, which honor international
literary figures who have been persecuted
or imprisoned for exercising or defending
the right to freedom of expression, will
be presented at PEN’s Annual Gala on April
18, 2006 at the American Museum of Natural
History in New York City. In a direct challenge
to the government of Turkmenistan, U.S.
officials are joining PEN in pressing Turkmenistan
to lift travel restrictions on Rakhim Esenov
so that the 78 year-old writer can accept
the award in person at the event.
Distinguished writer, historian, and PEN
Trustee Barbara Goldsmith underwrites the
two awards. Candidates are nominated by
International PEN and any of its 141 constituent
PEN Centers around the world and screened
by PEN American Center and an Advisory Board
comprising some of the most distinguished
experts in the field. The Advisory
Board for the PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom
to Write Awards includes Carroll Bogert,
Associate Director of Human Rights Watch;
Ann Cooper, Executive Director of the Committee
to Protect Journalists; Vartan Gregorian,
President of the Carnegie Corporation; Joanne
Leedom-Ackerman, International Secretary
of International PEN; and Aryeh Neier, President
of the Open Society Institute.
Mohammed Benchicou is the former director
of Le Matin, a private daily newspaper that
maintained an independent, critical editorial
line toward the Algerian government.
On August 23, 2003, Benchicou was apprehended
by the police at Algiers airport on his
return from France and charged with currency
control violations in a move widely understood
to be an attempt to silence Le Matin in
the run-up to the 2004 Algerian presidential
election. Benchicou’s arrest was reportedly
ordered by the Algerian Interior Minister
Yazid Zerhouni, who Le Matin had accused
in a 2003 article of involvement in torturing
prisoners in the 1970s during his service
as a military security commander. At a press
conference in Djelfa in 2003, Zerhouni stated
that Benchicou would “pay” for the accusation.
Benchicou further angered officials in early
2004 when he published a satirical book
about the Algerian president entitled Bouteflika,
an Algerian Fraud. Benchicou is reportedly
the first person ever to be imprisoned in
Algeria for bringing money into the country
in any form.
On June 14, 2004,
Benchicou was sentenced to a two-year prison
term and received a fine of 20m dinars (approx.
US $280,000). The sentence was upheld on
appeal on August 11, 2004, and Le Matin
was closed down that same month. On April
20, 2005, Benchicou’s prison sentence was
increased by five months as a result of
two separate libel charges in connection
with the publication of two articles in
Le Matin. Benchicou has approximately 50
other cases pending against him and is reportedly
taken to court once or twice a week for
press charges dating back to 2002.
Conditions are harsh in El-Harrach
Prison where Benchicou is being detained,
with 50 prisoners to a cell and infestations
of lice and cockroaches. Visiting is extremely
restricted – Benchicou is able to see family
members for 10 minutes per week. Benchicou’s
wife reports that his health has deteriorated
since his imprisonment and he is now seriously
ill. He is suffering from arthritis and
can no longer write with his right hand
due to paralysis on the right side of his
body. Despite numerous requests for necessary
medical attention, Benchicou has not received
medical care at any time during his imprisonment.
On February 23, 2004, novelist, historian,
and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty correspondent
Rakhim Esenov was questioned by members
of the Turkmen Ministry of National Security
(MNB) as he returned to Turkmenistan from
receiving medical treatment abroad. During
his interrogation, Esenov suffered a stroke
and was taken to the hospital. Two days
later he was interrogated again, and on
February 26, Esenov was formally arrested
and moved to an MNB prison.
Esenov
was initially accused of smuggling 800 copies
of his banned novel Ventsenosny Skitalets
(The Crowned Wanderer) into Turkmenistan
from Russia. Esenov denied this, and on
March 2, the charge was dropped. However,
he was then charged with “inciting social,
national and religious hatred using the
mass media.” Esenov has indicated
the charge refers to statements made by
characters in The Crowned Wanderer, which
is set in the 16th century Mogul Empire
and centers on Bayram Khan, a poet, philosopher
and army general who is said to have saved
Turkmenistan from fragmentation. Publication
of the novel was banned in Turkmenistan
by President Saparmurad Niyazov, who publicly
denounced it as “historically inaccurate”
in 1997, apparently for correctly portraying
Khan as a Shia rather than a Sunni Muslim.
This offense carries a four-year prison
sentence under Article 177, parts 1 and
2, of the Turkmen Criminal Code.
Esenov was also accused of failing to report
details of a telephone conversation with
former Turkmen Minister of Foreign Affairs
Avdy Kuliev to the authorities. Kuliev,
a key opposition figure and a staunch critic
of the Niyazov regime, is currently living
in exile in Moscow following a crackdown
on the opposition in November 2002 that
began after gunmen fired on Niyazov’s car
in the capital, Ashgabat.
Esenov
was finally released on March 9, 2004 after
submitting a written guarantee to remain
in Turkmenistan. However, the charges against
him were not dropped, and the results of
an investigation are still pending. He remains
confined to the capital Ashgabat, has been
ordered to cease working for RFE/RL, and
remains under surveillance. He is in dire
need of medical attention that is not available
in Turkmenistan, and is unable to travel
to Moscow to receive the treatment he needs.
Last week, officials from the United
States embassy in Ashgabat visited Rakhim
Esenov at his home and delivered the news
that he is to receive a PEN/Barbara Goldsmith
Freedom to Write Award. At that meeting,
Esenov accepted PEN’s invitation to travel
to New York for the awards, and the embassy
is prepared to issue a diplomatic appeal
to the government of Turkmenistan to allow
him to board the airplane. The potential
showdown is certain to attract international
attention to Turkmenistan’s appalling record
of violations of freedom of expression and
freedom of movement guarantees.
In announcing the awards today in New York,
Freedom to Write Program Director Larry
Siems praised both recipients for refusing
to let their governments control their countries’
histories. “Mohammed Benchicou in his newspaper
and Rakhim Esenov in his novels and his
reporting have sacrificed their own freedoms
to challenge the official version of events
– Benchicou in Algeria, a country where
human rights abuses persist and press freedoms
are diminishing, and Esenov in Turkmenistan,
a country whose citizens are almost completely
cut off from the international community,”
said Siems. “PEN is proud to honor
these two brave, defiant colleagues.”
Siems also expressed his hope
that the award would speed Mohammed Benchicou’s
release and result in the restoration of
Rakhim Esenov’s right to move about freely.
“We are hoping that these awards will add
to the international pressure on the government
of Algeria to reverse Mohammed Benchicou’s
conviction,” Siems added. “And we call upon
the government of Turkmenistan to allow
Rakhim Esenov to travel to New York to receive
the award, and afterwards to receive the
necessary medical treatment.”
This
is the 20th year that the PEN/Barbara Goldsmith
Freedom to Write Awards
have honored international literary figures
who have been persecuted or imprisoned for
exercising or defending the right to freedom
of expression. The awards are an extension
of PEN’s year-round advocacy on behalf of
the more than 1,010 writers and journalists
who are currently threatened or in prison.
Thirty-seven women and men have received
the award since 1987; 28 of the 30 honorees
who were in prison at the time they were
honored were subsequently released.
New
York, NY, March 29, 2006
PEN
American Center
For
more information contact : Larry Siems,
(212) 334-1660 ext. 105, lsiems@pen.org
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