Soltan Achilova assaulted for second time in weeks
RFE/RL Turkmen correspondent Soltan Achilova has been assaulted a second time, following another attack in October that rights advocates said was an attempt to silence her reporting.
Achilova, 67, was in a rehabilitation center near Arçman, northeast of the capital, Ashgabat, for health reasons on November 8 when two women approached her in the cafeteria, yelling “This is the one who takes pictures and pours dirt on Turkmenistan.” Earlier that evening, in an attack Achilova believes was meant for her, an elderly woman staying in the same facility was knocked to the floor by two unknown women who shouted while beating her, “This is for your taking pictures.”
The attack came one day after Human Rights Watch issued a statement decrying an October 25 assault on Achilova, saying “Achilova’s ordeal was clearly yet another orchestrated attempt to silence a critic.”