Society of Human Rights of Uzbekistan
Once
justice and legitimacy fade away
a state becomes a gang of bandits.
Augustine
Aurelius.
Guest book Forum Chat Society Post Public relations Óçáåê÷a Ðóññêèé English France
Report from the Human
Rights Society of Uzbekistan
Aiming to put
pressure on representatives of the opposition and the human rights movement, the
authorities of Uzbekistan have, for several years, have been assaulting,
arresting and trying their children and other people close to them.
The police, for example, organised a street fight of a large group of
idle youths with Ikhtiyer Khamraev, the son of Bakhtiyer Khamraev, the
well-known human rights defender from the town of Djizak, a representative of
the regional division of the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan (HRSU).
Even though I. Khamraev, second year student of the technological
university, was beaten by the young hooligans, the police arrested him and let
the others go free. Djizak’s town
criminal court sentenced I. Khamraev to 3 years imprisonment.
Along similar lines Utkir Pardaev, brother of Uktam Pardaev,
representative of the Djizak regional division of the “Independent
Organisation for Human Rights of Uzbekistan”, was arrested and sentenced.
On 29 April 2006, Azam Farmonov, son-in-law[1]
of Talib Yakubov, representative of the HRSU in the Syirdar’ya region, was
arrested and sentenced to nine years imprisonment on the basis of a falsified
case.
On 29 May 2007, Mashrab Djumaev, son of Yusuf Djumaev, the well-known
poet and democrat and one of the most prominent representatives of the
People’s movement of Uzbekistan “Birlik”, was arrested.
This was not the first time his son was arrested.
And earlier another of his sons, Alisher Djumaev, was repeatedly detained
by the police and beaten by unknown people.
The most merciless persecution was carried out against the brothers of
Mukhammad Solikh, a representative of the opposition party “Erk”: three of
his brothers – Rashid, Komil and Mukhammad – were arrested on falsified
charges and sentenced to long prison terms.
Mamatkul Mukhtarov came to the human rights movement in 1998.
M. Mukhtarov told how somehow a copy of an HRSU human rights bulletin got
through into penal colony “UYa 64/21, where he had served a term,. In this bulletin there were materials about serious
violations of the rights of prisoners. This
bulletin was passed from person to person to the point that it became completely
frayed. From the bulletin M.
Mukhtarov wrote down the telephone number and address of the HRSU office and
decided that, on his release, he would dedicate his life to the defence of human
rights.
In 1999 M. Mukhtarov became the head of the Samarkand regional division
of the HRSU and very soon after it became one of the leading human rights
organisations. The biggest
contribution was that he would defend the interests of the citizen as a proxy in
court (mostly civil court), both in Samarkand and in the districts of the region.
The city authorities repeatedly demanded that he stop his human rights
activity but he continued to defend the rights of people.
His youngest son, who works in a law-enforcement agency in Samarkand, has
become the target of the senior officers (management) because of the human
rights activity of his father.
Bakhodir Mukhtarov, the eldest son of M. Mukhtarov, captain of border
forces, served in Karakalpakistan on the border with Turkmenistan.
This part of the border is “renowned” for unending attempts at
contraband trading from Uzbekistan’s neighbouring countries.
Narcotics and petrol are particularly in transit: the first penetrates
through Turkmenistan from neighbouring Afghanistan, and petrol is almost given
away in Turkmenistan. The bosses of
the organised crime groups “make” fabricated money on this contraband
trading because they are “covered” by the National Security Service (SNB),
and contraband goods are accompanied by its officers.
A platoon was created under the command of captain Mukhtarov on this
border. Mukhtarov crossed this road
with his soldiers often confiscating contraband goods.
On 15 February 2007 B. Mukhtarov was arrested.
The issue was that on 14th February 2007 at the “Berdak”
post, B. Mukhtarov with his platoon confiscated 500 litres of petrol and 50
tyres from a “Kamaz” motor vehicle. Officers
of a particular division of the SNB, who were accompanying the freight tried to
threaten him, but Captain Mukhtarov was adamant.
The freight was confiscated and given for the use of the state.
The next day these SNB officers, Salimsokov and Dobulbaev, came to the
military quarters in a “Neksiya” motor vehicle, registration number 23 SN
250, stirring up alarm in the company. Making
use of the confusion these officers gave instructions to the duty solider to
slip marked money and drugs into the pea-jacket of Captain Mukhtarov. Sensing
something wasn’t right, Mukhtarov point-blank refused to put on his jacket.
Salimsokov and Dobulaev, with the help of the people who were
accompanying them, forced captain Mukhtarov to put on his jacket. All of this was recorded on video by one of the accompanying
SNB officers. Then they took his
jacket off him and carried out a search, however nothing was discovered.
The enraged unlucky SNB officers demanded in a coercive manner that the
division commander Azam Kholmamedov punish three officers and two soldiers,
sending them to the “detention cell” for five days.
They were transferred to the SNB “detention cell”.
For five days, the above named special service agents taunted and beat
Captain Mukhtarov and tried to force him to sign obviously false statements.
When Mukhtarov refused to rewrite all that Salimsokov and Dobulaev had written,
one of them hit him with a heavy ashtray on the head.
Mukhtarov lost consciousness
from the
blow. The
swelling from this blow still remains on his head.
Not having gotten what they wanted, the SNB officers instigated Azam
Kholmamedov to leave the captain in the “detention cell” for a further three
days without any basis. Again not
having gotten the required results, they turned to R. Zhuraev, the military
procurator of the Karakalpakistan Republic, with a request to sanction his
arrest. The procurator at first
allowed for his arrest for three days, during which time he and his co-workers
forced a soldier serving under Captain Mukhtarov’s command to write slander
about him. At the
judicial-medical examination, the military doctors present, under pressure from
the procurator, wrote that they had discovered no bodily injury to Mukhtarov,
despite the large lump “decorating” his head.
Captain Mukhtarov is still in the solitary confinement cell of the
military procurator in the town of Nukus. The
military prosecutors are doing all possible to ensure that no information gets
out. And others are helping them with this. It is obviously not useful to someone to have “his or her
dirty linen washed in public”.
Human rights defender M. Mukhtariv has gained a lot of experience in
defending citizens during court cases, both civil and criminal.
According to Uzbek legislation (article 49 of the Criminal-process Codex
of the Republic of Uzbekistan) he has the right to take part in the execution of
his son’s criminal case as counsel for the defence.
M. Mukhtarov immediately submitted a petition to the investigator, asking
to be brought into the execution of the case of B. Mukhtarov as counsel for the
defence, but his petition was ignored. On
21st February, after unyielding demands, M. Mukhtarov was allowed a
meeting with his son. M. Mukhtarov
saw his son through a glass wall, on both sides stood fourteen SB officers
surrounding father and son. M.
Mukhtarov says himself that he didn’t recognise his son, his face had been
turned to mash and he was not capable of talking.
During the investigation of B. Mukhtarov, the investigators obtained
evidence under severe torture without the presence of lawyers, as he was
deprived of the possibility to invite a defence counsel of his own discretion.
He is still being detained in Nukus, despite the demands from his father
Mamatkul Mukhtarov, human rights defender, to transfer him to Tashkent, where he
should undergo a judicial-medical examination in a legal manner given the fact
that torture has been used against him.
This is how the authorities of Uzbekistan take vengeance on people who
are carrying out noble deeds – the defence of human rights.
Taking vengeance against these people, the authorities don’t give them
the possibility to defend their sons, brothers, fathers and others close to them
by legal means from the illegal and criminal actions of investigators.
The example of Bakhodir Mukhtarov, son of human rights defender Mamatkul
Mukhtarov is iron evidence of this.
People everywhere are surprised that I. Karimov obstinately won’t agree
to the demand of the world’s democratic institutions to hold an independent
international inquiry into the tragic events that occurred in Andijan in May
2005. Can he agree to such demands
if even in individual cases, when the talk is of the fate of one person, the
investigating bodies completely ignore the laws of the country, torturing them
and depriving them of independent defence?
In the Andijan massacre thousands of innocent people were killed.
Does I. Karimov want to world to find out about the essence of the cruel,
inhumane political regime he founded? Of course not!
The Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan is appealing to all democratic
institutions of the world, and in particular to the European Union, to all human
rights organisations and people of good will to raise their voice in protest
against the lawlessness, created by the Uzbek authorities.
We call on all to defend Captain Bakhodir Mukhtarov, the son of one of
the best human rights defenders of our organisation Mamatkula Mukhtarov from
Samarkand.
Talib
Yakubov
Chairman of the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan
[1]
This could also be brother-in-law.
The Russian word is the same for both.
Guest book Forum Chat Society Post Public relations Óçáåê÷a Ðóññêèé English France
