The widespread use of violence and torture remains prevalent among the police in Uzbekistan, and when people say they have been tortured in custody, judges do little about it.

PART ONE

INTRODUCTION:

Human Rights Watch has followed abuses by government officials in Uzbekistan for some time.

Just this September, Human Rights Watch urged the government to release a number of human rights defenders being held in Uzbek custody. The government has not relented. 13 human rights defenders remain in jail today.

But the Europe and Central Asia Division have a new report on Uzbekistan, this time on torture by police officials. Rachel Denber, advocate for the group, is here to say more.

RACHEL DENBER:

After being part of the Soviet Union for more than 70 years, Uzbekistan gained its independence in 1991. But people in Uzbekistan have been far from free since then.

Its government has now become one of the most repressive and tightly controlled regimes across the region, with one of the most dismal records around on human rights violations.

In May 2005, the government of Uzbekistan was responsible for the killings of hundreds of protestors in the town of Andijan who had gathered to speak out against worsening poverty and corruption in the country.

The government of Uzbekistan has argued it’s taking measures to prevent abuses. In summer 2007, it adopted laws to allow people a right to contest their detention in court, otherwise known as the right of habeas corpus.

But the widespread use of violence and torture remains prevalent among the police in Uzbekistan, and when people say they have been tortured in custody, judges do little about it.

PART TWO

RACHEL DENBER:
A new Human Rights Watch report, "Nowhere to Turn," describes the ongoing pattern of torture and ill-treatment of detainees held in custody in Uzbekistan and documents the experience of more than 30 torture victims, their relatives and eyewitnesses – who, while held, were beaten by police officials, subjected to electric shock and forbidden to choose their own lawyers.

BAHODIR:
The floor was cold, it was still winter. I saw 20-30 people who had come. I only saw their legs. They didn't allow us to lift our heads, but I saw legs as I was able to turn my head from side to side. They were not dressed in uniform - they had different pants, different shoes.

RACHEL DENBER:
Bahodir, 20, was a cook when he and fellow co-workers at the shop where he worked were arrested suddenly by local police officers dressed in plain clothes. He and his co-workers were taken to a police facility, beaten, and made to watch while others among them were tortured.

Bahodir told Human Rights Watch what he saw.

BAHODIR:
They brought me into the room where D was. He sat naked on the chair, his hands were tied to the armrests with a belt. He lost consciousness, and then they poured water on him. When he regained consciousness, they started the shocks again. D started shaking. Afterwards I signed.

RACHEL DENBER:
Bahodir was told by police he would be tortured the way his co-worker was if he refused to sign a confession saying he was part of Hizb ut-Tahrir, an Islamic party with branches in many parts of the world. It is prohibited in Uzbekistan.

PART THREE

RACHEL DENBER:
The government of Uzbekistan alleges that it's been trying to root out Islamic fundamentalism. But the testimonies gathered by Human Rights Watch researchers show the confessions are often written and produced by the police themselves.

BAHODIR:
The first draft of the confession was dictated to me, and I wrote it out with my own hand. They dictated out to me that G taught me, that there was a group of us. I said that this didn't happen, this isn't true, and they started to hit me on my back with their fists, on my face with their elbows. They rejected the first draft because there were a lot of mistakes. Then, they wrote the second draft themselves on their computer.

RACHEL DENBER:
Human Rights Watch followed the trials of three men held in Uzbek custody. One man, Mirzo, was called as a witness in one of the trials, was made to sign a false confession that he was part of the Hizb ut-Tahrir group and that his ringleader was another man who had also been arrested.

But Mirzo testified in court he had only confessed to the charges because he had been tortured.

MIRZO:
The hearing began at the regional court and continued for a month. I came as a witness. At court I denied my earlier confession.

When they asked why I signed the confession I said that they made me, they beat me up, I had to sign it.

RACHEL DENBER:
After Mirzo M. denied the facts of his false confession, operativniki or police officers ordered him to a facility along with several other men months later.

MIRZO:
We were all summoned and an officer by the name of Kakhraman, along with the other operativnikis who beat me up, again tortured me.

They burned my lower teeth of my lower lip. It's a new method, and very painful. They threatened to put me in prison with the others charged. They wanted me to confirm my confession which they took during the investigation, and that which I gave at the trial saying it was not true. I didn't have a lawyer at any time, not during the investigation nor after.

RACHEL DENBER:
Police and security agents in Uzbekistan are part of a larger criminal justice system that is full of problems. In the past, getting access to trials in Uzbekistan wasn't easy, but remained in some part, open to the public - more than 20 trials related to the uprising in Andijan have closed. The Uzbek government has refused to acknowledge the extent of torture throughout the country and the cases remain, for the most part, overlooked by investigators, prosecutors, judges, and even some lawyers.

For more on the findings of this report, please visit the "Nowhere to Turn" webpage in the Europe and Central Asia section of our website at www.hrw.org.