Gaspar Matalaev, a labor and human rights activist who monitored and reported on the systematic use of forced adult labor and child labor in Turkmenistan’s cotton fields, was released after serving three years in prison on spurious charges stemming from his reporting. Matalaev was arrested in October 2016, two days after Turkmen.news published his extensive report on state-sponsored forced labor. He reportedly was tortured and held incommunicado while in prison, according to the Cotton Campaign, a coalition of organizations, including the Solidarity Center, working to end state-organized forced labor in Central Asian cotton field. Find out more at the Solidarity Center