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The Turkmen president has pardoned seven citizens of Kazakhstan. This was stated by the official representative of the Kazakh Foreign Ministry, Zhanbolat Usenov on Monday.
"As a result of direct talks with the leaders of Turkmenistan, as well as efforts of the Kazakh Embassy in Ashgabat, the Kazakh citizens were pardoned and released by decree of the President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, dating February 15, 2013," Usenov said.
According to him, pardoned citizens accompanied by the Consul of the Embassy of Kazakhstan in Turkmenistan, have left Turkmenbashi. The consul will accompany them to the Temirbaba checkpoint on the Kazakh-Turkmen border.
At the end of last year, a Turkmen court convicted seven Kazakh citizens under Article 214 of the Criminal Code (illegal crossing of the state border). One of the Kazakh citizens was sentenced to eight years in prison and the others to seven years.
This issue was under the strict control of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, using the full range of diplomatic tools to facilitate the release of these people.