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THE STATE'S RESPONSE TO THE PROBLEM OF TORTURE

Government reluctance to acknowledge the problem of torture compounds the difficulty of finding any solution. Repeated efforts by Human Rights Watch to engage government officials about this problem have resulted most often in silence, denials, and obfuscation.254

Though Uzbekistan has accepted its obligations under international human rights conventions, the foreign minister, Abdulaziz Komilov, has repeatedly insisted to Human Rights Watch that those instruments represent "European" standards not fully applicable to Uzbekistan. In discussions with Human Rights Watch, officials in the Uzbek National Security Council have implied that the security threats faced by the country somehow excuse or explain the failure to implement human rights standards. As one official put it, "there is concern that human rights protection problems are closely linked to the protection of security, therefore, it is important to understand the complicated situation in this country."255

When confronted with evidence of police abuse, officials from ministries most directly involved either ignored specific accounts of torture, or claimed that they were invented or exaggerated. During an interview with Human Rights Watch in October 1999, the then-deputy prosecutor general, General Rashid Kadyrov, claimed that there were no complaints lodged in which criminal suspects in custody have been denied access to a lawyer.0 Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Sadullah Asadov claimed that complaints about ill-treatment while in police custody were simply attempts by detainees to interfere with the process of the investigation: "Of course, regarding complaints of ill-treatment during interrogation, yes, we've received such complaints. Such complaints are regular and [were] even directed at me. But of course there are no cases when the criminal agrees freely to work and cooperate with us.... These statements are rare and such complaints actually are submitted by people who want to escape from criminal responsibility."1 Even representatives of the Ombudsman's office claimed that they had received no complaints of deaths in detention from torture, but when Human Rights Watch representatives presented them with examples of such cases, they failed even to write down the victims' names.2

Only the director of the National Center for Human Rights, legal scholar and Member of Parliament Akmal Saidov has been willing to admit directly that acts of torture persist. The National Center is responsible for producing all of Uzbekistan's submissions to United Nations human rights bodies, including the report to the United Nations Committee against Torture. This report, submitted in February 1999, acknowledged that "notwithstanding the efforts that are being made to prevent abuses in the justice system, the law-enforcement authorities are themselves reporting a number of problems."3 In an October 1999 meeting with Human Rights Watch, Dr. Saidov cited a 1998 case in which a police officer was convicted for the death of a man in detention in Namangan.4 He claimed that such abuses stem from ignorance of international standards. Likewise, Uzbekistan's report to the Committee against Torture argued that "the root causes of violations of citizens' rights are poor training and a contempt for legal procedure, endemic in the law-enforcement system, and peoples' ignorance of the law and how to stand up for their rights."5 Nonetheless, this report did acknowledge the systematic violation of a suspect's right to counsel, which, it conceded, "enables the investigating officer to manipulate the testimony of the suspect or accused," and also prevents them from protesting or documenting illegal methods of interrogation used against them.6 A subsequent report sent by the Center to the Human Rights Committee is decidedly less forthright, admitting only that "some shortcomings remain," while failing to provide any concrete information about compliance with the prohibition of torture contained in the ICCPR.7

Uzbekistan has undertaken a limited number of legal and administrative measures, intended to reform the justice system, although more serious efforts have stalled, and none of the measures taken have had any perceptible effect in lessening the frequency of torture. The Olii Majlis (Parliament) adopted a new Criminal Procedural Code on January 1, 1999, which, although substantially similar to the code it replaced, contains some additional provisions reiterating the impermissibility of torture. In April 1997, the procurator general's office established the "Coordinating Council of Law-Enforcement Authorities," which brings together heads of the MVD, Ministry of Justice, Procuracy, Supreme Court, National Security Service, State Customs Committee, the Ombudsman's office, and the representative of the National Center for Human Rights, with a view to enforce observation of international human rights norms by law enforcement bodies.8 A presidential order in October 1998 established an oversight body to evaluate the performance of senior law-enforcement officials every three months.9 Official criticism of judges has frequently figured in the national press in 1998-1999, with tens of judges dismissed each year for unspecified "grave shortcomings."10 In May 2000, a presidential decree created a special national commission to select judges and to review the qualifications of appointees, although there is no indication that judicial failure to uphold human rights protections in any way informs this review process.11

In order to improve police officers' training, the National Center for Human Rights has drawn up a program for human rights education for law-enforcement staff as well as local government officials, holding a series of seminars for public officials in September 1998. The MVD Academy has created a department of human rights and has drawn up a handbook on human rights for police.12

254 No response has been received to date to Human Rights Watch's letter of inquiry, sent to the Ministry of Internal Affairs on August 1, 2000. See Appendix 3. 255 Human Rights Watch interview with Butaiarov, Tashkent, October 29, 1999. 0 Human Rights Watch interview with General Rashid Kadyrov, Tashkent, October 28 1999. 1 Human Rights Watch interview with Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Sadulla Asadov, Tashkent, October 28, 1999. 2 Human Rights Watch interview with Maruf Usmonov, ombudsman chief of staff, Tashkent, October 27, 1999. 3 Uzbek Committee against Torture Report, p. 10. 4 Human Rights Watch interview with Dr. Akmal Saidov, Tashkent, October 27, 1999. 5 Uzbek Committee against Torture Report, p. 12. 6 Uzbek Committee against Torture Report, p. 16. 7 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Human Rights Committee, Consideration of Reports Submitted by States Parties under article 40 of the Covenant; Initial reports of States parties due in 1996; Uzbekistan, June 2, 1999 (CCPR/C/UZB/99/1/February 15, 2000), p. 32. 8 Uzbek Committee against Torture Report, p. 14. 9 Ibid., p. 15. 10 "Uzbek judiciary comes under `unbearable' criticism," BBC Worldwide monitoring, source Hurriyat, June 27, 2000, p. 6; BBC Worldwide monitoring, source Inson va Qonun [People and the Law], in Uzbek, February 1, 2000, p. 1; BBC Worldwide Monitoring, source Uzbek Television first channel, in Russian, 1430 gmt, February 6, 1998. 11 "A new Uzbek commission set up to select and appoint judges," BBC Monitoring source Khalq Sozi, May 5, 2000, p. 1. 12 Uzbek Committee against Torture Report, p. 28. Courses in human rights education at the MVD Academy reportedly began in the 1997/98 academic year.

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