Article 135 of the criminal code stipulates penalties of up to two years’ imprisonment for sodomy and 5 to 10 years if repeated. Turkmenistan is one of sixty-nine countries in the world that outlaw consensual sexual intercourse between men. On May 7, a Turkmen court sentenced the entertainer, and several others to two years’ imprisonment on sodomy charges. In mid-April independent media in the region reported the arrest of a popular entertainer as well as those of numerous other men who move in Turkmenistan’s show-business world.
In Turkmenistan, men who have sex with men continue to be arrested and imprisoned on sodomy charges.
A screen showing a portrait of Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov inside the terminal of the newly built airport in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, September 17, 2016.
