Associated Press
December 18

Turkmenistan's chief prosecutor on Wednesday accused the Uzbek ambassador of sheltering a mastermind in the assassination attempt on the country's president, while a U.S. citizen arrested in the attack admitted in footage shown on state television that he was unwittingly drawn into the plot.

Prosecutor Gen. Kurbanbibi Atadzhanova said on state television that suspects had confessed that former Foreign Minister Boris Shikhmuradov - one of four opposition figures who authorities say organized the Nov. 25 attack - illegally crossed into Turkmenistan from Uzbekistan the day before gunshots were fired at President Saparmurat Niyazov's motorcade. Niyazov was unhurt in the attack in the capital Ashgabat, and four policemen were injured.

The day after the attack, Shikhmuradov and an accomplice went to the residence of Uzbek Ambassador Abdurashid Kadyrov and were allowed to stay in a room in the embassy building, where they hid until Dec. 7, Atadzhanova said. Shikhmuradov escaped, and Atadzhanova said the other suspect, Nurmukhammed Orazgeldyev, was arrested Saturday wearing women's clothing at a bus station in the town of Mari, 450 kilometers (280 miles) east of Ashgabat.

"I regret to admit that the Uzbek Embassy in our country, namely the ambassador, assisted (Shikhmuradov) in escaping," Atadzhanova said. "It's hard for us to state that the representative of a brotherly nation helped a state criminal hide, thus avoiding criminal responsibility."

On Tuesday, Uzbekistan's Foreign Ministry strongly criticized a Monday raid on its diplomatic compound in Ashgabat, calling it "a gross violation" of international norms and agreements between the two Central Asian countries. The Uzbeks said security officers filmed testimonies of an unknown person they brought along alleging that he had lived in the compound.

Atadzhanova also alleged Wednesday that Shikhmuradov had met with Leonid Komarovsky, a U.S. citizen detained in connection with the attack. She said Komarovsky had be assigned to work on an appeal explaining the plotters' goals to be read to the nation after Niyazov's ouster.

In footage shown on state television, Komarovsky said he inadvertently became involved in the attack by buying satellite telephones for those involved. "I am ready to atone for my guilt and to do my best to find the masterminds of the crime," he said. "I wasn't aware of the real situation. ... I am glad that the president was unharmed."

Komarovsky's family in Newton, Massachusetts has said he was innocent and in Turkmenistan to explore business possibilities.

The U.S. government and human rights organizations have criticized the Turkmen government for allegedly rounding up entire families in the hunt for suspects. Niyazov said Tuesday that 46 people - including 17 foreigners from unspecified nations - had been arrested.

Another former foreign minister accused of involvement in the attack, Batyr Berdyev, also appeared in a TV interview and said he was assigned to talk to foreign embassies after Niyazov's ouster to insure the new government was internationally recognized.

Niyazov has led Turkmenistan since 1985 when it was part of the Soviet Union, resisting moves toward democracy and economic reforms and cracking down on dissent. He has established a personality cult around himself as "Turkmenbashi," or "Father of All Turkmens," and his portrait adorns the country's currency and most public buildings.

---