The Story of Alisher Sakhadov and Abdulla Orusov

The Story of Alisher Sakhadov and Abdulla Orusov We are in contact with Gulala Hasanova almost every day. Every time she asks me: “Is there any news?” — I fall into despair. So many videos recorded, so many letters written, so many words spoken, so much done at the OSCE… All in vain. Gulala Hasanova, who cries every day, barely eats, takes care of four children — and still, every single day, she must fight to find her beloved husband who disappeared. They disappeared because they couldn’t walk past someone else’s pain, couldn’t close their eyes to the lawlessness that the Turkmen authorities commit with impunity — just to hold on to power. He could not stay silent — but thousands of Turkmen citizens can. They can remain indifferent to this family’s tragedy, silent and inactive, fearing for their own safety. But Alisher Sakhadov spoke. He knew that one day they would come for him — and still, he spoke. And now, everyone is silent. Even those who should punish the criminals — are silent. Those who should bring them back — are silent. The entire international community — silent. And Gulala Hasanova has to record video appeals every day, deal with documents, search for her husband, reach out to every possible institution, just to ask again and again: “Is there any news?” Sad? Tragic? Shameless? Yes. But above all — absurd. In a world of information and technology, in the modern world — they cannot find two missing activists. Before this, they couldn’t help when others disappeared — and now, they still can’t. So many institutions, so many organizations are involved — yet no one can do anything. That’s the world we live in: to kidnap, to commit a crime against your own citizens — can be done in minutes. But to bring them back, to find them, to punish the perpetrators — turns out to be an impossible task. Absurd! How can we answer Gulala’s question? How?.. Diana Dadasheva