President A KARIMOV
President of the Republic of Uzbekistan
Paris, Geneva 26 September 2002
Mr President,
Mr Yuldash Rasulev, member of the regional section of Kashkadarinskyi
of the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan (HRSU), was arrested on 24
May 2002 and was transferred to the Temporary Detention Centre N° 1
on 3 July.Since then he is reported to have been subject to bad
treatment and acts of torture. On 18 July an unidentified individual
entered his cell and hit him in an attempt to make him speak. Upon
being examined by a Doctor, wounds were apparent. Mr Rasulev’s legal
counsel filed a suit on 20 July and received a letter from the
Penitentiary Authorities on 20 September (Ministry of the Interior)
stating that an enquiry was being conducted by the competent
authorities and that the suit was of no avail.Mr Rasulev’s trial
started on 3 September in Tashkent and finished on the 17th. He was
sentenced to 7 years hard labour. He was accused and sentenced on the
basis of three articles of the Criminal Code: art 159 (action against
constitutional order) art 244/1 (preparing and disseminating
materials likely to threaten security and civil order) and art 244/2
creating and taking part in religious, extremist and fundamentalist
organisations or other forbidden organisations).
According to information received the court hearings were flawed.
After being arrested, Mr Rasulev was kept in detention for 40 days by
an enquiry agent working for the Ministry of the Interior in a cell
at the Ministry whereas the legal period of preventive detention is
72 hours (art 226 para 1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure).
Furthermore, the preliminary enquiry was conducted by an official of
the Ministry of the Interior whereas the Code of Criminal Procedure
article 345/4 stipulates that for crimes described in articles 150 to
163 of the Code of Criminal Procedure that such enquiries should be
conducted by officials of National State Security. On 9 July a group
of enquiry officials was entrusted with the case and all the
officials belonged to the Ministry of the Interior. On 8 July, Mr
Rasulev and his lawyer were informed of the charges and the relevant
articles of the law were mentioned without any further explanation,
motivation or evidence. On 18 July the lawyer asked for clarification
regarding the facts of the case and the basis for the charges as for
example the name of the fundamentalist organisation attended by his
client or the nature of the anticonstitutional activity he was
reported to have been involved in. He has had no answer so far.
During the first hearing on 3 September both witnesses refuted their
testimony once it had been read out in court. They duly challenged
the official who questioned them and reported that they had been the
subject of pressure.
On 16 September 2002 the Criminal Court of the District of Nishan
sentenced three members of the Nishan Section of HRSU: Mr Muradov the
President of the Section (sentenced to 6 years hard labour) Mr
Hamraev (5 and a half years) and Mr Radjapov (5 years). They were
charged with being responsible for the following offences: article
277 (hooliganism) article 166 (burglary) article 173 (deliberate
damage to private property) and article 112 (murder threat and
violence). A enquiry conducted only by the policeman from Nishan
(procedure currently in force in small Uzbek villages) started half
way through the month of June. The case was then referred to the
District Court and a first hearing ruled that the case be suspended
during the wheat harvesting period.
On 16 September, the accused were informed that they were to report
to the Magistrate and were escorted by a police officer from the
Police Station in their district. At the outset of the hearing, the
Judge read out the charges and the sentence but there was no debate.
The lawyers for the defence were not at the hearing as they had not
been informed of the hearing and the three members of HRSU were
handcuffed and taken straight to jail.
Several months prior to the setting up in May 2002 of HRSU, Mr
Muradov and a group of activists denounced the acts of theft
perpetrated in the Kolkhoz of Ok Oltin. They gathered evidence
proving the implication of senior officials of the Kolkhoz, of the
District, of the Prosecutor’s Office and of the National Security
Agency. In connection with this campaign against corruption,
militants started being persecuted and the subject of diverse threats
and the fact that this group opened a section of the HRSU only served
to accelerate pressure brought to bear on these Human Rights
Defenders.
The Observatory was informed by HRSU on 20 September that a group of
women had occupied the Nishan District Court in protest of the
sentencing of the three Human Rights Defenders, as mentioned above.
HRSU was informed of these facts by a journalist over the phone
(name: Mr Karaev) who is the local focal point for the Voice of
America. As soon as the phone call was over, the journalist was
arrested by the police and taken to the offices of the National
Security Agency where officials promptly apologised and set him free.
But as he had been removed from the scene of the demonstration, Mr
Karaev was unable to cover it as he had hoped.
On 4 September, Mr Tursinbay Utumuratov, lawyer and President of the
Karakalpankistan Section was placed under arrest and accused of
various financial offences. He was placed in Temporary Detention
Centre N° 9 in Nukus. Mr Utumuratov is a well known and committed
lawyer. In 1996 he was arrested after challenging the Prosecutor of
his District.
The Observatory also points out that Mrs Elena Urlayeva, President of
the Tashkent Section of HRSU is still being detained. She was placed
in a psychiatric centre on 27 August 2002 on a court decision. Mrs
Urlayeva has been harassed continually since 2001 for being a Human
Rights Defender and particularly in connection with national and
international messages regarding individual complaints from victims
of Human Rights violations. She was arrested in February 2001 and
documents concerning basic freedom were confiscated. During her
detention she was forced to sign a declaration to the effect that she
had organised a coup d’état. In March, she was attacked and her flat
was hosed down with petrol. In November, she was arrested again
whilst she was filing a complaint with the ombudsman. She was
referred to the Infectious Diseases Unit and then to the Chilanzar
Regional Department for Interior Affairs. She was freed on 14
November 2001 but the psychiatric enquiry she was subjected to lead
to her being sentenced on 6 June 2002. Throughout the periods she was
detained, she was subject to psychological pressure and had to take
neuroleptics that affected her health.
The Observatory would like to point out that two other members of the
HRSU are currently in prison, namely Mr Kobilov former President of
the Djisaksk Branch who was arrested on 27 October 1994 and sentenced
to a term of 10 years imprisonment and Mr Madrahimov from Namangan
who was sentenced to 9 years in prison in 1999. Mr Shovruk
Ruzimuradov Head of the Kashkadar’ya Department of HRSU was found
dead in his cell in July 2001. He was arrested on 15 June.
The HRSU has still not been registered despite the repeated requests
since the NGO was set up in 1992.
The Observatory would also like to point out the impunity enjoyed by
Human Rights violators who victimise Human Rights Defenders. Mr
Shayflev, barrister and member of the Legal Aid Society was seriously
beaten up last May by police officers who hit him in the street and
then later on in the Sergeli Police Station. He was released the
following day and was the subject of an official enquiry. On 15 May,
the Magistrate of the District Court ruled that the enquiry be
stopped for lack of evidence. Several days previously, the findings
of a medical examination concerning Mr Shayflev mentioning " slight
physical wounds " were referred to the court. Mr Shayflev filed a
complaint with the Prosecutor’s Office denouncing the illegal acts of
the policemen he had been subjected to. The Prosecutor refused his
request and explained that "material facts were insufficient to
support the case".
The Observatory considers that such court rulings against Human
Rights defenders is the result of iniquitous justice. Detention is
arbitrary insofar as it only serves to condemn freedom of speech and
action as provided for by many international legal instruments and in
particular the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders that was
adopted in 1998 guaranteeing "the right to promote the protection and
the institution of Human Rights and basic freedom " (article 1).
The Observatory requests that the country’s highest authorities:
– ensure that arbitrarily detained Human Rights defenders be released
as soon as possible and that in any event their psychological and
physical integrity be guaranteed,
- ensure that justice be done in total independence,
- put a end to every form of repression and reprisals against Human
Rights defenders
- recognise the role of Human Rights Defenders in building a society
based on law, such role having been consecrated at the regional and
international levels,
- comply with the provisions of the UN Declaration on Human Rights
Defenders which stipulates the obligation to the State to protect
these defenders (article 12 of the Declaration),
- invite Mrs Hina Jilani, Special Representative of the Secretary
General of the United Nations on Human Rights Defenders, to visit
Uzbekistan.
FIDH and OMCT inform the authorities that they are referring this
matter to
the competent UN bodies, namely the Special Representative of the
Secretary General of the United Nations on Human Rights Defenders and
the
UN Working Group on Arbitrary detention.
Sidiki Kaba Eric Sottas
President of the FIDH Director of the OMCT