COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS FORMED IN TURKMENIA.

ASHGABAD, January 6 (Itar-Tass) - Turkmenian President Sapamurat
Niyazov signed a decree on setting up the republic's Commission on
Human Rights to be headed by the president.

The new body that is to control the activity of power-wielding
structures will comprise staffers of the Turkmenian national institute
for democracy and human rights at the president, representatives of
the Supreme Court, the National Security Committee, the Interior
Ministry, the Office of the Procurator-General and local executive
authorities. The commission on human rights will be regularly
analysing crimes and working out the strategy of crime prevention.
The commission's accounts will be regularly referred to the president.

Though the crime rate on the whole reduced over the past year, there
was a marked increase in the number of drug-related crimes, Niyazov
said. He said this poses the most serious problem to the Turkmenian
society and urged compatriots and chiefs of law enforcement bodies to
exert efforts to the utmost so that the year 1999 should see a
breakthrough in combatting narcotics stread and use.

The president said that more than 4,000 people were brought to court
in Turkmenia on drug-related crimes in 1998, while the total number of
those brought to court was 12.5 thousand.

The president has no doubt that some of them were prosecuted without
blame.

In this connection, he urged law enforcement and judicial bodies to
act, first of all, in the interests of people and to put a stop to
abuse of power by officials.

As many as 47 judges in Turkmenia were punished in
1998.