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UZBEKISTAN
PERSISTENT HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS AND PROSPECTS FOR IMPROVEMENT
SUMMARY
In late 1994, the authoritarian government of Uzbekistan, long stigmatized as a serious human rights abuser, showed the first signs that it desired to change its image. In September of that year, Uzbekistan hosted an international seminar in its capital, Toshkent, sponsored by the Conference for Security and Cooperation in Europe (now the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, or OSCE), at which, in a move unprecedented since early 1992, two local human rights activists were allowed to address the forum, even at the height of a campaign to silence them and all dissidents. Subsequently, the government has taken other steps to project a greater willingness to address human rights problems, such as being cooperative with outside human rights monitors and establishing internal mechanisms which may lead to improvements in compliance with human rights principles. At the same time, fundamental human freedoms are systematically denied to residents of Uzbekistan. Has the government embarked on the difficult and slow road to genuine, sustained reform, or it is merely engaging in a cynical public relations game?
On the basis of first-hand accounts gleaned
primarily during an investigative trip to Toshkent, Namangan, and Andijan
between November 12 and 23, 1995 (the first allowed since the government
of Uzbekistan imposed a travel ban on our representatives in early 1993),
Human Rights Watch/Helsinki concludes that the last eighteen months of
slow diplomatic "thaw" have dramatically improved the climate in which
the government will discuss human rights with outsiders and may, with time,
lead to changes in current abusive practices; however, the improved diplomatic
climate has as yet resulted in almost no tangible improvements in abusive
practices.
For example, during the period under examination
(September 1994 to the present) the high-profile abuses that have earned
Uzbekistan severe censure in the past -- such as the arrests, kidnapings
and beatings of well-known dissidents -- have decreased somewhat. However,
the repression of these same individuals has blended into the less obvious
practices suffered by the general population. On the contrary, all forms
of wide scale, serious abuse persist, including the total denial of fundamental
civil rights, such as freedom of speech, association and assembly. Moreover,
the pervasive, repressive tactics used to maintain strict control on all
citizens have persisted unabated. And, in the Islamic sector of society,
some abuses have escalated dramatically during that same period.
The government of Uzbekistan's "change
of heart" toward the human rights dialogue is taking place against a backdrop
of its attempts to reassert Uzbekistan's unique place in the constellation
of former Soviet republics. It appears to be a pragmatic means of forging
an alliance with the West and gaining the access to private foreign investment
and developmental assistance that such contact provides. Regardless of
motives, it is clear that Uzbekistan stands a better chance of beginning
to effect genuine reform now than at any time since the early 1990s. Self-interest
thus may lead to the beginning of genuine reform, if the international
community insists on it. Without such pressure, however, the persistent
patterns of abuse and government attempts to manipulate human rights for
propaganda purposes suggest that the chance of reform will remain small.
There has been no progress in striking
at the most fundamental and disturbing problems that pervade Uzbekistan
society. All media are rigorously censored and some newspapers banned outright
and freedom of speech severely curtailed; individuals are punished for
even the slightest attempts to express peaceful opposition to the government,
or even for a lack of perceived loyalty to the government, through arbitrary
arrests, detentions, "disappearances," discriminatory dismissals from work,
and intimidation through surveillance of homes and telephones; opposition
associations are arbitrarily stripped of their legal status; public rallies
are banned; law enforcement and the judiciary carry out the will of the
authoritarian regime or of corrupt officials, including planting narcotics
and weapons on a suspect during arrest; and citizens are functionally unprotected
from arbitrary state interference in their family and privacy by law enforcement
agents, such as the police (militsia),
who are subordinate to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the National
Security Service (NSS), formerly known as the KGB, and from cruel, inhuman
and degrading treatment or punishment in detention.
Human Rights Watch/Helsinki has monitored
the human rights situation in the Republic of Uzbekistan closely since
1992. Despite a two-and-a-half-year period (May 1993 to November 1995)
when the government of Uzbekistan denied visas to our representatives,
we conducted two full-scale field investigations in Uzbekistan (December
1992 and November 1995), observed political trials, and issued several
reports and scores of letters of inquiry, concern and protest relating
to specific violations or patterns of abuse. We now maintain an open dialogue
with several government bodies that share responsibility for human rights
protections.
At the same time, due to the (until recently)
limited access Human Rights Watch/Helsinki has had to Uzbekistan and to
the government since 1993, this report can hope only to present some of
the more egregious cases of abuse in the past year and a flavor for the
generally repressive atmosphere that pervades many aspects of life. The
organization will continue to monitor the situation.
It is Human Rights Watch/Helsinki's belief
that an honest and informed examination of the human rights situation is
the best way to ensure that the promises of improvement are eventually
kept. This report will attempt to provide such an account in an effort
to help the government of Uzbekistan focus its efforts at reform more effectively,
and the international community to be skeptical, vigilant and informed
in its efforts to ensure that improvement is real and sustained.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The government of Uzbekistan and its various
agencies must take immediate steps to achieve genuine improvements in its
human rights records. Because that process demands time, the government
must take short-term steps to demonstrate good will that it will strive
to reach those goals. Human Rights Watch/Helsinki believes that the international
community can and must play a prominent role in encouraging the government
of Uzbekistan -- a member of the United Nations and the OSCE -- to effect
reforms and meet its international human rights obligations.
Human Rights Watch/Helsinki calls on the
Government of the Republic of Uzbekistan to rigorously uphold international
human rights obligations, to ratify at the earliest opportunity the human
rights instruments to which it has acceded (listed in the "Legal Background"
section of this report), and to no longer require parties and organizations
that were once registered to re-register.
We call on the Ministry of Internal Affairs
to cease immediately harassment, surveillance, and wire-tapping of peaceful
citizens except with the written permission of a judge and in strict accordance
with international standards, to institute internal investigations into
allegations of policemen planting drugs and weapons on individuals, discipline
those found guilty, and work with the Procuracy General to ensure that
they are prosecuted to fullest extent of the law. We also appeal to the
National Security Service to cease immediately harassment, surveillance,
and wire-tapping of peaceful citizens except with the written permission
of a judge and in strict accordance with international standards of civil
protections.
We call on the Procuracy General to pursue
a rigorous and impartial investigation into the disappearances of Abdulla
Utaev, Abduvali Qori Mirzoev, and Ramazanbek Matkarimov. If determined
to be illegal detentions, we urge it to prosecute those responsible vigorously.
We urge the Ministry of Justice to adhere
strictly to the Law on Social Organizations and the provisions and principles
of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, and other fundamental mechanisms
governing freedom of expression and association, and to register all legitimate
applicants or issue written rejections by the deadline stipulated by law,
and to register the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan, or provide in writing
a legally legitimate reason for rejecting the application.
The International Community should condemn
forcefully all persisting violations, monitor closely the government of
Uzbekistan's compliance with its international human rights obligations,
and encourage its efforts at reform. In offering human rights related assistance
programs to Uzbekistan, it should identify publicly the problems that the
program targets, set specific goals for improvement, and a timetable for
achieving these improvements, and be prepared to withdraw from the program
if it becomes apparent that the government is failing to exhibit the necessary
good faith efforts.
Human Rights Watch/Helsinki appeals specifically
to the U.N. Centre for Human Rights to express concern to Uzbekistan government
officials about the ongoing abuse documented in part in this report, and
to have the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, the Special Rapporteur
on the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression and the Special Rapporteur
on Intolerance and Discrimination Based on Religious Belief conduct investigations
in Uzbekistan in the nearest future on relevant forms of abuse.
BACKGROUND
Legal Background
When it accepted membership in the United
Nations and the OSCE, the Republic of Uzbekistan obliged itself to uphold
the principles of those organizations, including the Universal Declaration
on Human Rights. Human rights protections are also enshrined in Part Two
of the Uzbekistan Constitution and in various other national legislative
acts. In addition, the Republic of Uzbekistan has acceded to the following
principle international human rights-related treaties. It is unclear when
ratification discussions will take place.
The independent Republic of Uzbekistan
has implemented some improvements from the brutally repressive policies
practiced under Soviet rule before glasnost'. Uzbekistan has laid claim
to perhaps its most far-reaching reforms in the area of freedom of movement
and freedom of religious expression. For example, citizens of Uzbekistan
can now readily leave their country -- a right denied them under Soviet
rule. The government has also returned countless mosques and other houses
of worship to active use and permitted unprecedented numbers of individuals
to travel outside of Uzbekistan, including to perform the pilgrimage to
Mecca required of Muslims. In addition, for a few years between the late
1980s and roughly 1992, the exercise of fundamental freedoms such as the
right to free speech, assembly, association and religion flourished on
a broad scale in Uzbekistan: public worship was permitted, public rallies
filled the streets, opposition political parties and movements sprang up
and functioned actively, and an independent human rights group began to
take root.
Human rights suffered serious setbacks
in the early 1990s, however. Fundamental human freedoms were brought back
under brutal state control and began to silence the political opposition
, effectively reimposing the abusive practices that had characterized the
Soviet period.
Political Repression
From roughly 1992 to the present, during
the transition from Soviet rule to today's independent Republic of Uzbekistan,
government authorities in Uzbekistan have waged a brutal, relentless and
largely effective campaign to wipe out the political opposition. This has
taken the form of politically motivated arrests, beatings, harassment,
and discriminatory firings from the workplace, primarily targeting leading
members of the Popular Movement Birlik (Unity), the Birlik Party, Democratic
Party Erk (Freedom/Will), the Islamic Renaissance Party, Adolat (Justice),
later renamed Haq Iuul Adolat (The Right Way is Justice), and the Human
Rights Society of Uzbekistan. Birlik and Erk were granted registration
in 1991 but were stripped of it in 1993. Political repression, which began
before the parties lost their registration, resulted in the imprisonment
of tens of political prisoners, hospitalization and long-term injuries
to several activists, and the flight of dozens of others from Uzbekistan.
The peaceful political opposition within
Uzbekistan was virtually liquidated. Today, many of these individuals remain
in jail, unjustly serving jail sentences in unsanitary, crowded and otherwise
inhumane conditions. Others fled Uzbekistan for asylum abroad. Repression
has been so pervasive that today few individuals still residing in Uzbekistan
dare openly to identify with the political opposition.
Another element of political control was
the practice, particularly in the early years of the republic's independence,
of local law enforcement agencies preventing known dissidents from meeting
with visiting dignitaries. Peaceful political and human rights activists
were placed under de facto house arrest, forcibly transported out of town
and held for several days against their will, or arbitrarily thrown in
jail for alleged "hooliganism" in order to prevent them from meeting with
an OSCE delegation, U.S. senators, and other visiting dignitaries.
The government attempted to prevent such
contact by impeding the free movement of outside observers as well as of
citizens. In 1993, for example, it imposed a ban on visas for representatives
of Human Rights Watch/Helsinki (at the time known as Helsinki Watch). On
one occasion in 1993, a representative of our organization who did not
require a visa for entry into Uzbekistan and who was attending court trials
as an observer was detained, interrogated and expelled from the country.
Government Gestures Toward Reform Since Independence
Below is a non-comprehensive list of concrete
measures taken by the government of Uzbekistan since September of 1994
to improve human rights protections or its image as a violator of human
rights. Items on this list do not appear in any necessary order of importance:
Until this change, there was an almost
seamless continuity of resistance to human rights concerns between the
Soviet period and the government's position on human rights advocacy today.
Until that time, and in some cases to this day, the government fiercely
resisted criticism of its human rights practices, dismissing it as interference
in the internal affairs of the country. To this end, it barred or expelled
outside monitors from entering the country or expelled them, although they
were there legally. It also arbitrarily detained and kidnaped peaceful
dissidents who tried to make contact with outside monitors.
In the last year, however, officials of
the Uzbekistan government have made it clear that they welcome cooperation
with nations and international organizations that include human rights
among their concerns, and that the government, which is only four years
old, has been making a concerted effort to institute sustainable human
rights reforms. Some also readily acknowledge that "mistakes" had been
made in past years but state that they are confident that they will not
be repeated, and note with pride Uzbekistan's ability over those years
to maintain its internal stability.
Over the past year, in communication with
representatives of the Uzbekistan government, Human Rights Watch/Helsinki
representatives have heard frequently that Uzbekistan is a newly independent
state and has not yet had enough time to fully reconstruct legal structures
inherited from the Soviet period. Many interlocutors have noted that even
with proper changes, people's mentality is slow to adapt and abusive practices
thus are slow to disappear. Some have asserted that necessary improvements
in the human rights field would come only once economic reforms are fully
implemented and the standard of living rises. They noted that much abuse
by judges, lawyers, policemen, investigators and the NSS results from corruption,
which is rampant since civil servants have no other way to adequately supplement
their salaries. While noting some validity to these arguments, Human Rights
Watch/Helsinki believes that nothing may mitigate full protection of human
rights or efforts to achieve such protection.
AN ALARMING NEW TREND: THE CRACKDOWN AGAINST 'INDEPENDENT' MUSLIMS
Despite the government's improved receptivity
to human rights concerns since 1994, there may be more prisoners of conscience
today than there were at the beginning of the diplomatic "thaw." That rise
is explained in large part by law enforcement and local authorities' crackdown
on leading members of the independent Islamic community. The crackdown
dates roughly from the end of 1994 and is known to have focused on Toshkent
and the major cities of the Farghona Valley. The result has been arbitrary
arrests and detentions, disappearances, impeding free attendance at some
mosques, arbitrary dismissals from work, arbitrary and intimidating interrogations
by law enforcement agents, and prohibition of some individuals from teaching
Islam and related materials.
These abuses are part of the pattern of
violations suffered by Uzbekistan society at large (see
"Violations of Human Rights"); however, we highlight the crackdown against
the Islamic community in particular in this report since it developed on
a broad scale only after the publication of our last comprehensive report
on the human rights situation in Uzbekistan in 1993.
Local residents have reported to Human
Rights Watch/Helsinki that Muslims, overwhelmingly men, are arbitrarily
taken in for questioning and intimidated, and often detained for several
days without charges by the police and NSS for minor acts of perceived
insubordination or independence. Individuals reportedly are detained and
harassed for as little as wearing a beard, failing to praise or praise
sufficiently the government in their prayers (Islam teachings prohibit
praising anyone other than God); showing solidarity with practitioners
of conservative Islam; or being independent financially from the Spiritual
Directorate, the government's oversight agency for religious affairs, or
even from the voluntary donations of the pious.
The government may be particularly interested
in controlling "independent" Islam. First, it is one of the very few unregulated
channels of social authority, the other being political opposition. Second,
it is believed to be the recipient of financial support from Muslim donor
countries, monies which are not immediately controlled by the government.
The effect of the repressions -- and possibly
their goal -- has been to punish practicing Muslims who either worship
at, teach at, or contribute to the financial support of independent mosques,
madrasas (institutions of secondary and higher Islamic learning), or
even belong to a state mosque but reportedly fail to demonstrate due loyalty.
The crackdown has set a chill on the Muslim community and are apparently
stifling the free expression of some forms of Islam.
Background
All religious expression was brutally
repressed in the Soviet period, beginning in Uzbekistan in the 1920s. At
the time, it affected all faiths equally. In the case of Islam, public
manifestations of faith, such as the "five pillars of Islam," were strictly
prohibited and punished. (2)
The Republic of Uzbekistan, which is secular,
has instituted dramatic improvements in the exercise of freedom of religion
in Uzbekistan. Articles 31 and 61 of the Constitution enshrine the right
to freedom of conscience and to the equal treatment of religious organizations
under the law, respectively. Mosques and churches have been returned to
their congregations, and the number of religious schools and literature
has risen. Nine new madrasas reportedly opened during the first year of
independence, (3) and, according to government
figures, the number of mosques had grown one hundred-fold by 1995.
(4) There has been only one report of an individual having been
prevented from performing the hajj (Pulatjon Okhunov in 1995); on the contrary,
in February 1995 the government announced it would offer assistance for
those desiring to make the pilgrimage. (5)
At the same time, there exists a state-organized
and state-financed "official" Spiritual Directorate for Muslims, which
is controlled by the secular government to serve state interests. For example,
official Islam is funded by the state, and the pious are enjoined to pray
for the government of Islam Karimov. As one analyst concludes, "For public
consumption, the official religious establishment bestows its benediction
on the political leadership on one hand and eschews any efforts to introduce
religion into politics on the other." (6)
The Spiritual Board of Central Asia and Kazakstan, formed under Soviet
times, has been superseded by a muftiate in
Uzbekistan.
Islamic communities not affiliated with
the state, much like the Sufi orders, formed "parallel" or "shadow" Islam,
which is financed solely through private contributions, and followers believe
in the primacy of religious authority in all aspects of life.
(7) It is this "independent" Islamic community that has fallen
under fire, possibly because, in the perception of the state, it exercises
an unacceptable degree of autonomy and its primary allegiance is not to
the state.
Part of the Islamic revival seen in recent
years has been felt in remote areas of Uzbekistan, such as the Farghona
Valley, where approximately one third of the population lives, overwhelmingly
Muslim. (8) An ethnically heterogeneous
agricultural area, the Farghona Valley, which straddles Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan
and Uzbekistan, was the site of bloody clashes in recent years: in 1989,
between Uzbeks and Meskhetian Turks, which resulted in scores of casualties,
and in 1990, when clashes between Uzbeks and Kyrgyz left some 200 dead
and hundreds more wounded. The government is thus sensitive to any disturbances
there and has singled out "Islamic fundamentalism" as a potential disturbance.
The government is concerned about militant influences from Tajikistan and
Afghanistan fanning flames in Uzbekistan, and also points with alarm to
the "criminal activities" of people in their own country, particularly
in the Farghona Valley. (9)
Thus, it appears that what is problematic
for the state is not the religious content of Islam but its expression
as a social and political catalyst. Islam is not only tolerated, it is
an essential part of Uzbekistan's government; at the same time, that which
is not under government control is repressed. In an interview with Human
Rights Watch/Helsinki, Mufti Mukhtorkhon-khoji Abdullo did not acknowledge
any Islam but state Islam. (10)
Abuses
The crackdown has included the following
violations:
The Uzbekistan chapter of the Islamic
Renaissance Party was banned in 1992; that same year, in December, its
leader, Abdulla Utaev, disappeared, reportedly taken away by security forces.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs claimed that it was unaware of the disappearance
but would look into it; five months later, Human Rights Watch/Helsinki's
request for information was still unanswered. In an interview with Human
Rights Watch/Helsinki, one of the Mufti's assistants reported that Mr.
Utaev was not a religious leader but a businessman, and that he lacked
proper religious training, but expressed regret at the disappearance.
(12) Khokim Satimov, the leader of the informal Islamic community
action group Adolat, was arrested in 1993. Adolat has been labeled lawless
and brutal by the government; few independent reports exist to dispute
or confirm this change.
Sheikh Abduvali Qori Mirzoev is a high-profile
imam who had worked, reportedly unpaid, with the Jo"mi mosque in Andijan
city since 1989. He reportedly disappeared at the Toshkent airport on August
29, 1995, as he prepared to board flight #668 from Toshkent to Moscow to
attend an international Islamic conference. Mr. Mirzoev was forty-five
at the time of his disappearance and has a wife and seven children.
Ramazanbek Matkarimov, who disappeared
with him, was born in 1959, is a train conductor at the Andijan depot,
and worked for several years as an unpaid assistant to Sheikh Abduvali
Qori Mirzoev. He has a wife and four children.
The sheikh's brother, Abdulla Mirzoev,
told Human Rights Watch/Helsinki: (13)
He was always on the alert, particularly
in the last days before his departure. [Security services] had taken religious
leaders in Namangan, Qoqand and Toshkent, so Andijan was next. He had been
under constant surveillance for the last ten to fifteen years. Every day
two or three cars were parked outside his house, taking notes... I don't
know how he stood it... He ate every meal at home, for religious reasons
but also for safety.
People at the conference in Moscow called
us to see why Abduvali hadn't come. That's when we found out... A man we
know who was on the same flight [Otabek Shamsutdinov] had looked for Abduvali
on board so that they could have evening prayers together, but he couldn't
find him. (14) Remember, Abduvali was a
very visible person. He has a big beard and was wearing unusual clothing;
you could spot him in a stadium of 10,000 people, but this man couldn't
find him in the airplane, although he searched in all three sections. Relatives
later flew to Moscow and personally saw the declarations people fill out
upon arrival in Moscow. But there were no declaration forms for them because
they never arrived in Moscow. They were detained by NSS agents in Toshkent.
Why am I so sure [he is in the custody
of the NSS]? First, my brother had been detained by the KGB in 1983. Second,
he had been under surveillance his whole life. Third, there is no one except
the NSS that has physical access to the place [at the airport] where they
disappeared: after check-in and customs control... Fourth, a witness has
told us that when they were arresting our brothers at the airport and took
them into a separate room, an airport worker looked into the room and asked
why they were keeping the passengers there, but the detaining agents showed
him their NSS badges and ordered him not to interfere, that it wasn't his
business. Fifth, Abduvali's wife said that he had gone with great reservations.
Apparently the surveillance on him had intensified over the previous ten
to fifteen days.
Why would they have wanted to remove him?...
I think it's because he was a world famous Islamic scholar who has written
eighty-seven articles on the Qur'an. He knew the Qur'an by heart. There
has never been anyone like him in Uzbekistan before. That's why he was
famous. And this disturbed someone, bothered someone, to the extent that
they ultimately kidnaped him.
He was not involved in politics. [But]
he was always visible. If he took a step, people captured it on video;
if he said a word, they took it down on tape. These videos are documentation
of his life and his work. That's why they couldn't arrest him officially
and instead committed this barbaric act.
On October 25, 1995, the Andijan district
(oblast') Procuracy opened a criminal investigation into these apparent
disappearances and created a special working group responsible for the
case. The Andijan team reportedly has concluded its work, but the investigation
is ongoing in Toshkent and Moscow. The Procuracy, Ministry of Internal
Affairs, and the NSS have denied knowledge of the men's whereabouts. The
Ministry of Foreign Affairs has called reports that they are in NSS custody
"untrue" and "unverified." (15)
At the same time, they reportedly have
harassed and threatened the relatives of the disappeared men who have brought
to light information implicating the security services in the disappearances.
(16) Also, supporters of the imam who sought to gather to protest
the apparent detentions reportedly were denied a permit by local authorities
(17) and prohibited from broadcasting Radio Liberty programs
about the investigation at the mosque. In December 1995, local authorities
closed the mosque entirely.
In an unsigned, undated statement received
by Amnesty International, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic
of Uzbekistan reported that the Procuracy had concluded that the men "went
through check-in, got onto the airplane and flew to Moscow."
(18) In a conversation with Human Rights Watch/Helsinki in November
1995, the first deputy procurator of the Republic of Uzbekistan offered
the implausible theory that these men had flown out of Uzbekistan but had
not arrived in Moscow. (19)
In September 1995, Amnesty International
submitted an inquiry to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or
Involuntary Disappearances regarding these disappearances. As of this writing,
Amnesty is not aware of the Working Group having received a response from
the Uzbekistan authorities.
Human Rights Watch/Helsinki has information
that an imam at a Toshkent mosque was called into the Procurator's office
in 1995 and subjected to an inhuman barrage of abuse, foul language and
threats. He was summoned, reportedly, because several years previously
he had advocated in a speech at the mosque changing the modified Cyrillic
alphabet, used to write Uzbek since the 1930s, to the Arabic-Persian alphabet
instead of to the Latin alphabet. The government favored a transition to
the Latin alphabet and indeed, in the 1990s adopted a law to institute
that change, thus the imam's position contradicted that of the government.
A person familiar with an imam, whose
name cannot be revealed here, who has been harassed recounted the following:
(20)
The imam had received several thousand
books from Saudi Arabia as a gift to his mosque. Then [law enforcement
agents] began building accusations against him: "Why did the Saudis give you
a present? Who are you -- your own state? Why don't they send them to the
Spiritual Directorate? Are you friends with them or something?"
They also accused him of giving financial
assistance to the opposition in Tajikistan and alleged that he was teaching
our youth in a spirit of opposition to our government -- like he wanted
to form an Islamic government. (21) The
sheikh [imam] said such thoughts had never even entered his mind, and that
he himself never had any money, so how could he finance the Tajik opposition?...
They accused him of being a very independent religious figure, that he
was not subordinate to the Spiritual Directorate, that he doesn't read
the official statements [of the Directorate] that he is supposed to read
to people, and that he never attends meetings at the Directorate, disregards
its guidance and constantly chooses his own topics for sermons. But in
reality he does go to the meetings and consults with the Directorate on
all matters. Someone is trying to get the imam in trouble with the NSS.
Even the opposite case -- refusal to take
money -- has been misconstrued as a threat to the unity of the Spiritual
Directorate. According to one prayer leader: (22)
There is a bad tradition that has developed
among the people: to collect money for when a mullah or other religious
figure comes to an event, like when someone dies or is born, they must
give him money. But that shouldn't be allowed. Moreover, people these days
don't have a lot of money. The sheikh understands that and therefore his
conscience never allows him to take money. But he was criticized for this
in a "talk" with a representative of the Spiritual Directorate. He was
told: "You don't take money from people, but how then do you live?" And
he right away came to the conclusion: "That means you take money from abroad.
You receive huge financial support and live off of it." But in actuality
he lives on the salary he receives at the mosque -- nothing more. He just
lives modestly.
An imam reportedly was called in to the
Office of the President in Toshkent and warned that he was not acting correctly
when he would ask in his sermons how it was that a famous scholar could
disappear in the center of town: (23)
They told him that he was disturbing the
political process with his speeches and that he should not do this. After
every summons he would appear before the public and say, "I was summoned
to such-and-such a government office," so that people wouldn't worry about
him. But he was later warned not to speak of these meetings in public,
that they should remain secret.
Although no study of Uzbekistan prisons
has yet been conducted, a man who has been incarcerated several times at
Toshkent prison reported to Human Rights Watch/Helsinki that approximately
30 percent of the roughly 15,000 detainees were "believers," and that he
noticed they often received worse treatment by guards, such as being denied
food or being fed late. (24)
VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS
Freedom of Speech
Article 29 of the Constitution of Uzbekistan
guarantees the right to freedom of "thought, speech and convictions." At
the same time, it expressly forbids some types of free expression, such
as the right to "seek, obtain and disseminate information except that which
is directed against the existing constitutional system and in some other
instances specified by law. Freedom of opinion and its expression may be
restricted by law if any state or other secret is involved."
Article 67 of the Constitution states
that "censorship is impermissible." Although formally illegal, censorship
is extremely heavy in Uzbekistan. Teams of censors are reported to work
on the premises of all media sources and to have the last word in what
is printed or aired. Some newspapers, such as Erk,
the newspaper of the outlawed Erk Democratic Party, and Mustaqil
Haftalik (Independent Weekly) have been banned, and individuals have
been sent to prison for possessing copies of them. Indeed, possession this
act is considered such a serious breach of the law that police are believed
to have planted newspapers on dissidents to form the basis for an arrest
(see below). The government
jammed or otherwise prohibited some foreign radio and television broadcasts
from reaching Uzbekistan, more heavily before 1995.
The head of State Television and Radio,
Shahnoza Ghanieva, who is responsible for editing all reports, told Human
Rights Watch/Helsinki representatives that there is no censorship in Uzbekistan.
She reports, however, that all of her correspondents must be "patriotic"
and that she sees as her role to "give people hope for tomorrow. The perestroika
period [in the USSR] shattered people's hopes." (25)
This propagandistic editing results in
serious distortions of information. One egregious example is the interview
Ms. Ghanieva personally conducted with Jonathan F. Fanton, the chairman
of Human Rights Watch/Helsinki's Advisory Board. The broadcast was aired
on November 23, 1995, on "Orbit" in Toshkent, rebroadcast from "Novosti"
of Russian television. Human Rights Watch/Helsinki has obtained a copy
of the broadcast. In it, Ms. Ghanieva replaced Mr. Fanton's actual statements,
which expressed profound concern about ongoing human rights violations,
with a voice-over stating that our representatives found that the "tendentious"
reports of abuse we had gathered prior to our visit proved to be "not entirely
objective." The coverage also omitted the concerns actually raised during
the interview. (See Appendix
F.)
Even President Islam Karimov is responsible
for exploiting the investigative visit of our delegation to artificially
set a stamp of approval on the current human rights situation. In a December
1995 speech to diplomats and journalists, President Karimov stated:
(26)
Uzbekistan is opening up more to the world,
and subjectivity in reporting is decreasing. To support my words, I will
cite the opinion of the delegation of Human Rights Watch, which visited
us recently, headed by its very high-profile representative Mr. Fanton.
After a series of meetings with representatives of political parties, nongovernmental
organizations and groups, centers of national cultural and religious faiths,
the experts acknowledged that "the information which reaches us about human
rights violations is unfounded"(ne
sootvetstvuet deiistvitel'nosti).
Human Rights Watch/Helsinki protested
this blatant manipulation in a letter to the president on February 22,
1996.
At least five individuals are known to
be currently incarcerated for alleged possession of banned newspapers in
Uzbekistan, although the formal charges do not reflect that. Abdulla Abdurazzoqov,
an Erk party activist and lecturer at Toshkent Pedagogical University,
was sentenced on September 14, 1994, to three and a half years of imprisonment
on slander charges. Rashid Bekjon, brother of Erk Party leader Mohammad
Solih, was arrested in November 1994, and sentenced in August 1995 to five
years of imprisonment on charges of, in part, violating Article 68, part
1 of the Criminal Code ("contraband"), in connection with his alleged possession
of theErk newspaper. On February
16, 1996, Kholiknazar Ghaniev and Bakhtiar Nabii-oghli, both professors
at Samarqand State University, and their colleague, Nosim Bobev, a PhD
in economics currently working at the Samarqand oblast tax inspection,
reportedly were arrested. It is reported that they are under investigation
for illegal possession of narcotics, a charge often lodged against critics
of the government when there is no evidence to justify an arrest. In actuality,
it is reported that these men are being punished for possession and distribution
of the banned opposition newspapers Erk,
Forum and Birlik.
(See Appendices A and G.)
Freedom of Assembly
Article 33 of the Constitution of Uzbekistan
guarantees the right to engage in public rallies, meetings and demonstrations,
as does Article 21 of the ICCPR.
On February 21, 1990, before Uzbekistan
became independent, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Uzbek SSR
outlawed "temporarily, until the socio-political situation in the republic
stabilizes,... street marches and demonstrations" and ordered that sanctioned
rallies and gatherings be held "in the requisite procedures" in "closed
premises." That ban has persisted for the past six years, despite its being
in flagrant violation of the Constitution. No rallies are known to have
been held in Uzbekistan since January 1992, when several students were
shot to death, reportedly by police, during a rally protesting economic
conditions. All known attempts have been forcibly dispersed by the police
and participants punished.
On June 19, 1995, some 300 women from
the Azamat state farm (kolkhoz)
in the agricultural area of Ishtekhan region (raion),
Samarqand district (oblast'),
staged a sit-in on a nearby highway leading to Bukhara to demand payment
of their salaries, which had been withheld for six months. One of them,
forty-one-year-old Tulvanoi Butaeva, reportedly was held for six days for
disorderly conduct and issued a warning under the Administrative Code.
(27) In a written statement, Ms. Bataeva recounts the following:
(28)
Apparently they didn't beat us because
cars from Turkey and Iran and other drivers had stopped and were watching
us. Also, there was the likelihood that all of the women of the raion would
join the demonstration. They took down all our names and, to calm us down,
gave out cotton oil and wheat. After that, they called the participants
in to the investigator one at a time.
After the demonstration, on June 20, policemen
under the leadership of deputy head of the regional department of internal
affairs Orzy insulted me with swear words and forcibly put me in a car
and took me to the regional procuracy. There they forced me to sign a statement
promising not to participate in rallies anymore.
September 1 was a national holiday, and
all the well-off, sated officials had gathered on the square to celebrate
it. I went there too, with my two children [aged four and six]. I wanted
to communicate my woes to the people there... Unfortunately, they didn't
allow me to speak. My children started crying. People around me grabbed
me and started dragging me off the square. In answer to the question from
some onlookers, "What is the woman accused of?" they answered, "This woman
was trying to steal something, so we've detained her." It was hard for
me to bear such humiliation and the three of us -- my children and I --
started crying. At noon, they took me and my children to the police lock-up
and tried to separate us. They cried loudly and went into hysterics...
and they put two armed guards on us. They held us there, hungry, until
11:00 p.m. and wouldn't even give the children some water when we asked.
When my children fell asleep, they took me away to the pre-trial detention
center, and I demanded that they return me my children. But they didn't,
so at that moment I began a hunger strike.
The investigator explained that I was
being brought up on criminal charges. "You are a political criminal. You
spoke out against a government holiday." They filled out various forms...
and finally made me sign a statement. On September 6 they took me to one
of my relatives and left me there, but they took away my children's birth
certificates.
On Monday, September 9, 1995, policemen
came to the house without any warrant and said that I am a criminal and
should not be at liberty. My children started crying loudly... and I convinced
them that today it was too late, but that I would leave my children with
relatives and come myself in the morning. I understood that my safety and
that of my children was in danger and was forced to flee my house and the
town in which I was raised.
Human Rights Watch/Helsinki learned in
March that Ms. Butaeva was convicted of "malicious hooliganism" and given
a three-year suspended sentence.
Freedom of Association
Articles 34, 57 and 58 of the Constitution
of Uzbekistan, and the Law on Public Organizations, enshrine the right
of citizens to form political parties and associations, as does Article
22 of the ICCPR. Article 34 of the Constitution states that "no one may
infringe on the rights, freedoms and dignity of the individuals constituting
the minority opposition in political parties, public associations and mass
movements."
At the same time, Article 58 of that same
document states that "interference by state bodies and officials in the
activity of public associations, as well as interference by public associations
in the activity of state bodies and officials, is impermissible." Human
Rights Watch/Helsinki is concerned by this restriction since it inherently
limits the probing of government activities that is a normal part of human
rights work.
We are further alarmed by the stipulation
in Article 57 that "all secret societies and associations shall be banned,"
since "secrecy" is clearly an illegitimate basis for prohibition of this
fundamental right.
In practice, opposition members have been
brutally punished because of their affiliation with certain social or political
groups, and several opposition parties have been banned or effectively
stripped of the registration they once enjoyed. The latter include the
Popular Movement Birlik, the Birlik Party, the Erk Democratic Party, and
two religious groups: "Adolat" and the Islamic Renaissance Party of Uzbekistan.
Some nongovernmental organizations dealing with human rights have met the
same resistance.
Political Parties
In response to an inquiry by Human Rights
Watch/Helsinki in November 1995, the Minister of Justice said he had encouraged
Erk and Birlik leaders to resubmit paperwork during a meeting with them
in January 1995, but that ten months later they had not received anything.
(29)
Birlik Popular Movement
Birlik was registered with the Ministry
of Justice of the Uzbek SSR on November 11, 1991. In 1992, the government
illegally required it and other organizations to re-register, and failed
to approve its application, effectively stripping it of its registration
arbitrarily.
In an interview with the weekly Russian
magazine Novoe Vremia (New
Time) in October 1995, President Karimov said, "I stated categorically
that no one will object if this movement wanted to renew its activity and,
in conformity with legal procedure, submits its founding documents for
registration." (30)
Birlik member Vasila Inoiatova asserts
that the Ministry of Justice is stonewalling: (31)
After the CSCE conference [in Toshkent
in September 1994], I sent a letter three times to the Minister of Justice
[regarding re-registration of Birlik]. At the conference [he] stated that
the ministry has no petition for registering Birlik. But we had a certified
document that we had submitted these documents to them... A month later
I received a response that the documents were not there. A week after that,
[I got a response] that they were there but they had expired... So I wrote
again to the Ministry of Justice, saying that I had submitted the paperwork
on time. I have a certified receipt of it with [the Ministry's] stamp on
it, and I attached a copy of it with my letter. But I still haven't received
a response. So I went to see the person I had originally appealed to and
he said that it was out of his hands, and that I understood that myself.
Birlik Party
Despite several appeals during 1991-92,
the government refused to register the Birlik Party. In July 1992, party
chairman Abdurakhim Pulatov suffered a broken skull and numerous serious
contusions when he and his colleague, Mirolim Odylov, were attacked by
a band of men wielding metal rods as government officials, with whom the
men had been meeting, looked on. The other Birlik party co-chairman, Shukhrat
Ismatullaev, was hospitalized after an almost identical attack in 1993.
No investigation is known to have been pursued in either case, and the
government has never denied involvement in the attacks.
Erk Democratic Party
Erk was also stripped of registration
by the re-registration requirement introduced in 1993. Officials of the
Foreign Ministry have indicated to Human Rights Watch/Helsinki that Erk
was not a legitimate political party since it was headed by terrorists
(32) -- a reference to the conviction in March 1995 of six individuals
affiliated with Erk on charges of terrorism and related charges (Criminal
Case No. 300).
Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs)
Numerous NGOs have been registered in
Uzbekistan in recent years, even as some have been banned. Some groups
have been refused registration arbitrarily, uniformly those that delve
into human rights issues or are composed of individuals not hand-picked
by the government.
As with political parties, the government
has registered government-created organizations to fulfil the formal function
of a nongovernmental organization (often referred to facetiously as GONGOs,
or "Government-Organized Nongovernmental Organizations" ). Thus, for example,
the GONGO National Committee for Human Rights has been registered since
September 30, 1993, but is all but non-functional.
At the same time, the independent Human
Rights Society of Uzbekistan (formed February 2, 1992) has been denied
registration for the past four years. In a letter of February 15, 1996,
the Ministry of Justice stated merely that the application "did not meet
the requirements of the law on social organizations." In a June 1995 meeting
with Human Rights Watch representatives, then Minister of Justice Mardiev
indicated that the paperwork had been incorrectly filled out, complaining,
for example, that it had been filed "on half a piece of paper."
(33) In November 1995, however, Mr. Mardiev and his staff responded
that the application was unacceptable because some of the proposed members
of the board were not citizens of Uzbekistan. (34)
However, there is no such stipulation in the corresponding laws, and in
any case all of the individuals on the list are citizens.
Human Rights Watch/Helsinki is profoundly
concerned by ongoing harassment of some members of the Human Rights Society.
Polina Braunerg, an attorney from Almalyk and member of the board of the
nongovernmental and as yet unregistered Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan,
and her son have been subjected to interrogations, searches, detention,
and other forms of intimidation and harassment from investigative bodies.
In addition, a criminal case is being prepared against her by the Military
Procuracy, although as of this writing it is unclear what if any charges
have been brought against her. Local observers report that the harassment
is punishment for her human rights activities and for possession of banned
newspapers (see Appendix H).
Human Rights Watch/Helsinki welcomes the
Ministry of Justice's pledge of March 1996 to register the Society as soon
as it submits an application which conforms to the law. Human Rights Watch/Helsinki
understands that the Society is currently preparing a new application.
(35)
Likewise, the Foundation for Support of
Political Prisoners and their Families, formed in the spring of 1995, has
not been given a legitimate reason for the Ministry of Justice's refusal
to register their original applications. Founder Vasila Inoiatova states
that she submitted the necessary paperwork to process her application for
registration to the office of the president and the Ministry of Justice.
She continued: (36)
That was in April 1995... After three
months, I went in person to the Ministry of Justice and demanded a response
to the letter. They told me that a letter had been sent in response, yet
I hadn't received it. They showed me the correspondence registration book
and, indeed, a letter had been sent. But I live at number 3, and they had
written number 33. I think this was done deliberately: it looks like they
did their duty, yet I don't get anything.
Several women's groups, which are funded
by the government, are beginning to work actively. At the same time, the
independent women's group Tumaris, an adjunct to the now banned Birlik
Popular Movement, has been unable to function since approximately 1993
because of unrelenting government harassment, including the beating of
one leading member (Mamura Usmanova and her husband in December 1993) and
repeated forcible dispersals of their meetings by security forces.
Like Birlik and Erk, the "Samarqand" Social-Cultural
Organization of Tajiks and Tajik-Speaking Peoples, based in Samarqand,
was stripped of its registered status when it was forced to re-register.
According to leading member, Jamol Mirsaidov: (37)
[The government] created a puppet Social-Cultural
Organization at the same time as we had, although we had submitted our
application for registration slightly before they had. But they didn't
register us, but did register the puppet organization. We sued, and the
district court ruled in our favor, forcing the Justice Department to register
us within one month, but the Collegium on Civil Matters of the Supreme
Soviet of Uzbekistan, which reviewed the appeal of the Ministry of Justice,
has failed to satisfy our petition.
On June 2, 1995, I received two phone
calls from staff members of the American Embassy in Toshkent... They notified
me that the next day an American delegation from the State Department was
arriving and wanted to meet with me... I decided to greet them at the airport,
having notified my friends that people were coming from America who were
interested in our problems and if they want, they can take part in our
talks, as well. But it turned out our phone conversations had been tapped.
The meeting took place, but I learned later that at that time my friends
were being detained by the NSS. They were told that they wouldn't be let
out until the Americans left, and made them sign incriminating statements
against me.
They detained co-chairman [of the organization],
Vafakul Ishankulov, who had refused to sign a statement against me, and
Zakhid Khasan-zade, a journalist. They detained Khasan-zade at his home
together with two of his children. They told him that until he gave testimony
against me they wouldn't let him go and would throw him and the children
into the basement cell at the NSS.
On the eve of the arrival of the American
delegation and even after they had already left, they began rounding people
up. They made the detainees sign statements about why they had signed a
letter... asking why the group still hadn't been registered. Someone made
a photocopy of the letter and took it to the NSS, and they called in everyone
who had signed. They detained thirty-six people... Our people are frightened
and some have temporarily distanced themselves from our work.
That's how they're turning NGOs into government
secret services. It's laughable, but that's how it is for the nongovernmental
movement.
Arbitrary Arrests
Article 25 of the Constitution of Uzbekistan
guarantees that "no one may be arrested or taken into custody except on
lawful grounds." However, since 1992 the government is known to have imprisoned
tens of individuals to silence and punish their independent political or
religious activities (see Appendies
A and B.)
Between 1992-94, many were charged with
having committed purely "political" crimes, such as treason and slandering
the president. Leaders of what is perceived as the "independent" Islamic
community have also been arrested and arbitrarily detained (see
Appendix B). In an apparent attempt to lessen censure of its actions, political
detainees have been increasingly charged with common crimes, often illegal
possession of drugs and weapons, which reportedly are planted on suspects
during the arrest. The plausibility of the charges is belied by the fact
that some of the dissidents imprisoned on these charges have been released
before the end of their sentences on unrelated -- and clearly political
-- conditions: that they sign statements promising to cease their political
activities.
The two clearest cases of politically
motivated arrest carried out in the period under investigation here are
of Mukhtabar Akhmedova and Ibragim Buriev. Both were released under pressure
from the international community within weeks of their arrests.
Mukhtabar Akhmedova
Ms. Akhmedova, a retired geological-mineralogical
scientist, was arrested in her Toshkent home on January 22, 1995, charged
with violating Article 112-G of the criminal code: slander against the khokim
(mayor) of Toshkent city, and of a deputy khokim, Kozim Tyliaganov.
Law enforcement was first involved when Ms. Akhmedova wrote a letter to
the Toshkent City Council, which she also disseminated among international
organizations, protesting their decision to raze homes in Saghban, the
old part of town where she lived. On January 30, her house was searched
and documents taken, including the manuscript of a document, which she
claims she had edited but not written, reportedly calling the president
a "murderer" for being responsible for the deaths of several Toshkent students
by policemen during a protest rally in 1992. Her trial began on June 7
and ended in her being sentenced to four years of imprisonment. She was
released under a Victory Day (VE-Day) amnesty and was freed on June 14,
1995. Ms. Akhmedova told Human Rights Watch/Helsinki that state agents
began to visit her relatives during her incarceration:
(38)
They visited my relatives to pressure
them into signing a statement that I was psychologically ill. They promised
that if they got four such statements, they would free me... But [my acquaintance,
opposition leader Shukhrullo] Mirsaidov raised a stink and told them, "Don't
do that. They will isolate her completely. This is for the rest of her
life. If she doesn't die [in jail], she will become a cripple and will
never see the light of day again." [Mr. Mirsaidov] searched for my relatives
until midnight and were barely able to convince them not to sign. They
were supposed to have brought the statements in at 10:00 a.m. that next
morning.
Human Rights Watch/Helsinki considered
Ms. Akhmedova a prison of conscience during her incarceration since she
was punished for the peaceful expression of her views. Human
Rights Watch/Helsinki also notes serious violations of her right to due
process, primarily that her trial was closed.
Ibragim Buriev
Mr. Buriev, a former high-ranking civil
servant in Uzbekistan's Communist Party structure, is a member of the Board
of the Birlik Popular Movement and of the unregistered "Haq Iuul -- Adolat"
Party. In the early months of 1995, on the eve of the presidential referendum
on the extension of the rule of the president, he had broadcast several
statements over Radio Liberty that were highly critical of President Karimov.
On March 31, 1995, he was arrested at 3:00 a.m. and taken to Toshkent Prison.
He was charged with illegal possession of narcotics and weapons, which
Mr. Buriev claims were planted on him by arresting officers.
Mr. Buriev described his arrest:
(39)
I had left the house to pick up a friend...
Two men came up, one on either side, and asked my name. I said, "Buriev."
"He's the one," one said... They walked me over to the car. They twisted
me down onto the hood of the car and began to dig around in my pockets
as if they were looking for a weapon. But it was they who put it there.
Of course I felt it. They do it so crudely you couldn't help but feel it.
Two were holding me down, and two were looking through my pockets -- one
from one side, one from the other. They put handcuffs on me right away
so that I couldn't get into my pockets or throw anything out of them. I
understood at once what they were doing.
[During the first interrogation, at the
pre-trial detention center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs] they said,
"Take out everything in your pockets." I said, "No. The one who planted
it is the one who should take it out." They looked at each other, obviously
taken aback. That said it all. They started going through my pockets. One
took out a box of matches, the other a pistol, or rather the bolt of the
gun (zatvor)... They opened
the match box and there was opium. They said, "Oh, opium. In powder form,
all ready for the needle." I said, "Since you can determine what it is
without any tests, that means you're the one who put it there."
I didn't know people were protesting my
arrest. The authorities got frightened. The Minister of Internal Affairs
invited me into his office and said, "They didn't hurt you? Didn't beat
you? Just please don't tell anyone that they planted drugs or narcotics
on you." This was the minister who said this!
Mr. Buriev was released on April 29, 1995,
ostensibly for health reasons but, it is believed, as a concession to protests
from the international community. The Procuracy has confirmed for Human
Rights Watch/Helsinki that the case against Mr. Buriev is suspended, not
dismissed, and that "the case may be reopened as soon as he is feeling
better." (40)
Arbitrary Detentions
Several Muslim men have been detained
on suspicion of the destruction in early November 1995 of several Islamic
cemeteries outside Toshkent. Some 265 graves were said to have been desecrated
at the Vakkos-ota cemetery and at least another thirty at the Kukcha cemetery.
Unconfirmed eyewitness reports indicate that the cemeteries were destroyed
by two busloads of soldiers from the elite "Alpha" troops of the Ministry
of Internal Affairs. The fact that some ten cemeteries were desecrated
in a single night lends credence to the assertion that it was carried out
by a large and well-organized group of people. There is also no obvious
explanation for why the pious would destroy their own cemeteries, an act
that is anathema under Islamic law.
The vandalism was apparently a government
provocation against the Islamic religious community; it has led to some
thirty detentions and served as the pretext for numerous summonses to the
NSS and police for questioning and intimidation of the local Islamic community.
Among those reportedly detained are the following men, all of whom are
believed to have been active at the mosques that supervised the cemeteries:
1. Khairulla Erkin-oghli
2. Ubaidulla Faizullaev
3. Ikrom Iuldashev
4. Muhammad-samy Sadykov
5. Ibragim Sharipov
6. Khabibulla Suleimanov
Reportedly, all of these men were held
without food for approximately two days and then released. It is unclear
whether charges were brought against any of them.
Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment in Detention
Under Article 7 of the ICCPR and Article
26 of the Uzbekistan Constitution and the provisions of the Convention
Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment,
the Republic of Uzbekistan is obliged to protect all individuals from torture
and from cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. These laws
also stipulate that no one may be subject to any medical or scientific
experiments without his consent.
Human Rights Watch/Helsinki is aware of
numerous reports of state-sponsored physical and psychological mistreatment
of criminal suspects in Uzbekistan. Most often, the abuse is carried out
by police in order to elicit incriminating evidence against the suspect,
or against another person, often a relative or friend. According to victims
and individuals who have spoken with them, police or NSS agents typically
will threaten the suspect, ordering him or her to sign a statement of confession
or give incriminating testimony. This is often accompanied by threats to
harm family members and beatings.
There are no known independent investigations
of prisons and pre-trial detention facilities in post-independence Uzbekistan.
Given the general state of penitentiary facilities in the Soviet Union
(41) and the fact that no reform of the penal system has yet
been implemented in Uzbekistan since the Soviet period, and judging from
the independent testimonies of recently released detainees, it is likely
that state-sponsored mistreatment continues to be chronic in Uzbekistan's
pre-trial detention facilities and prisons.
One notable improvement in current practices
is a marked decrease in the absolute number of reported cases of violent
attacks on dissidents allegedly by security forces since the peak of such
violence in 1992-94. The Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) informed Human
Rights Watch/Helsinki that as of November 1995, it had received 186 reports
of violations committed by MVD officers (the Procuracy reported "more than
one hundred") (42), and that fifty-three
of those individuals had been convicted. Of those, in the first ten months
of 1995, fifteen agents were charged with criminal misconduct for abuse
of power (zloupotreblenie sluzhebnym
polozheniem), and another fifty-one for "exceeding their authority"
(prevyshenie vlasti) for various
crimes, including negligence (khalatnost'),
hooliganism and theft. The Procuracy informed Human Rights Watch/Helsinki
that it had issued 1,000 notices (predstavlenie)
to law-enforcement agents which call either for their firing or for their
being brought up on criminal charges. (43)
The MVD did not confirm how many of these
reports were lodged in relation to arrests of dissidents, and declined
to say whether agents had been charged with physical abuse of detainees
and prisoners. (44) The Procuracy reported
being unaware of any cases brought involving allegations of police planting
of narcotics or weapons.
Human Rights Watch/Helsinki believes that
actual violations are even more widespread than these figures indicate.
The Procuracy initiates criminal charges solely on the basis of appeals
from citizens. (45) However, individual
victims are often too frightened or cynical to report abuse regularly.
Moreover, the government has failed to apprehend a suspect in any of the
reported cases involving dissidents.
Sadly, the practice has not disappeared
even during the ostensible "thaw" period covered by this study. In the
case of opposition leader Shukhrullo Mirsaidov, this appalling practice
persists; Human Rights Watch/Helsinki has received additional reports of
beatings of individuals perceived to be dissidents which it has been requested
not to disclose.
Shukhrullo Mirsaidov
Shukhrullo Mirsaidov, the former prime minister, chairman of the Council of Ministers, and vice president of Uzbekistan, had a falling out with the leadership that culminated in his leaving government in January 1992 and in criminal charges being lodged against him. An Uzbekistan court convicted him of exceeding his authority in June 1993 and required him to pay a heavy fine. Although he was later cleared by an international tribunal, the government reportedly continues to pressure him and his relatives to pay. Pressure has even taken the form of an unsanctioned, intimidating raid by Special Forces (OMON) on the home of a female relative to demand that she give up her property in order to pay part of the fine. (46) Today, Mr. Mirsaidov is head of the Coordination Council, an informal group aimed at organizing the political opposition, and chairman of the nascent "Haq Iuul -- Adolat" Party.
Mr. Mirsaidov reports that he has been
subjected to five physical attacks since leaving government. He stated
(47) that on April 18, 1995, his son, twenty-seven-year-old Hasan,
was driving him to work when two cars full of men stopped them on a Toshkent
street and dragged them out of their car. He reports that four men put
bags over their heads, bound their hands, shoved them into separate cars,
and took them to a destination it took some thirty minutes to reach.
Mr. Mirsaidov recounted the following:
He was led into a cellar, stripped naked, beaten, and tied to a chair,
and that injections that gave him a warm and heavy feeling were administered
in both of his shoulders. He pretended to lose consciousness. His captors
then removed the bag covering his head and untied his hands, he reported,
and he saw three men in masks and a naked woman. His captors reportedly
photographed him with the woman in compromising poses with a video camera,
then put the bag back on his head, bound him again and drove him to a field,
where they abandoned him, naked. There, he reports, they threatened to
kill him and his family if he did not give them U.S. $10,000, then drove
away, saying they would return. Mr. Mirsaidov found people nearby, borrowed
clothes from them, and found his way home.
Citing his son, he reports that the abductors
put a bag over Hasan's head and threw him to the floor of a car, where
they beat him in his kidneys and elsewhere and subdued him with a gaseous
spray. His captors reportedly threatened to cut him with a knife and kill
him. He was ultimately released and abandoned.
The MVD has not responded to Human Rights
Watch/Helsinki's request for information about whether or not any suspects
have been apprehended in this case. Mr. Mirsaidov has reported that he
is unaware of any charges having been brought in this case or any of the
previous attacks.
Ibragim Buriev
Ibragim Buriev (see
"Arbitrary Arrests") recounted the following about his incarceration in
the pre-trial detention center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs:
(48)
For the next two weeks or so they interrogated
me eighteen hours a day: "Just tell us where the ammunition is, the rifles,
the automatic weapons, where is your band, you and [Shukhrullo] Mirsaidov."
(49) They wanted me to sign a statement incriminating Mirsaidov.
This always took place without a lawyer. They threaten you: "We'll send
you to a labor camp, and they'll rape you there."... They keep changing
officers [during interrogations], but they're all young guys, twenty-five
to twenty-eight years old. One of them hit me. He got angry about something.
The kids were almost all high. You could tell from their faces. Also by
the fact that a young Uzbek would never hit someone older that he is --
never. Only if he were high.
Defendants in Criminal Case No. 300
On March 30, 1995, a Toshkent court convicted
six individuals, all members of or otherwise affiliated with the banned
Erk Democratic Party, on a variety of criminal charges including attempting
to overthrow the constitutional structure of the government. It sentenced
them to between six and twelve years of imprisonment. According to independent
testimony from two eyewitnesses, all but one of them -- the only woman
among them -- were severely mistreated during arrest and investigation.
Murad Dzhuraev
Forty-four-year-old Murad Dzhuraev was
arrested on June 17, 1994, in Almaty, the capital of neighboring Kazakstan,
and on March 31, 1995, was sentenced to twelve years of imprisonment (later
reduced to nine) on charges of terrorism and related acts in Criminal Case
No. 300. According to co-defendant Dilarom Iskhaqova, who sat with him
during the trial: (50)
They broke one of his ribs. And when they
were taking him from Almaty, they tied him up and put him in an old truck,
in which the motor is exposed inside the car. They made them lie down --
they were taken away in their underwear -- on top of the motor and got
burns all over their body from it.. As they were driving they hit a car.
The car got crushed and Murad Dzhuraev flew out. That's how he broke his
rib. And when they got to the prison, they beat them savagely.
Erkin Ashurov
Ms. Iskhaqova recounted mistreatment of
another co-defendant, fifty-seven-year-old Erkin Ashurov:
He has sugar diabetes and rheumatism.
During the arrest they knocked out several of his teeth; he lost the others
while he was already in jail. He literally has no teeth left. He can't
chew his food or swallow, and that in turn causes stomach problems.
They beat all of [the defendants]. But
by far the worse off was Erkin Ashurov. First, his age -- he's about sixty.
Second, they beat him every day. He stood up during the whole trial [which
lasted, sporadically, for some six months] because he couldn't sit down.
His leg was grossly bloated because of the diabetes and because of the
damp where they held him.
Nadira Khidoiatova and Asiya Turiniyazova
On July 11, 1995, two pregnant Uzbek women,
Asiya Turiniyazova and Nadira Khidoiatova, were arrested in Toshkent and
Nukus, respectively, on charges of illegal transportation of animal skins.
(51) Through humiliation, intimidation, physical deprivation
and direct threats to them and their relatives, prison officials coerced
them into having abortions, which were carried out almost simultaneously,
on July 19 (according to Ms. Turiniyazova) or 20, 1995 (according to the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs). Ministry officials acknowledge that the abortions
were performed but deny there was coercion involved, citing the fact that
both women had signed consent forms for the procedure.
(52)
According to an attorney involved in the
case, Article 533 of the Criminal Procedural Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan
reportedly stipulates that pregnant women be released automatically pending
trial. The women were denied this right, however; instead, they were told
they would be released pending trial only if they signed a consent form
for the abortion and a statement confessing their guilt. It is believed
that this appalling treatment was ordered because terminating the pregnancies
would allow the detaining officials to keep the women in custody legally
until they signed confessions.
According to both women, the officials
had them undergo medical examinations. Both were diagnosed as having dead
fetuses, and were told the pregnancies should be terminated, although both
reported feeling well and had been given a clean bill of health by independent
gynecologists prior to their incarceration. The women were told that if
they did not give their consent to having the abortions performed at the
prison hospital, the prison would perform them anyway and "in worse conditions."
Nadira Khidoiatova recounted the following:
(53)
I had been summoned to the NSS ostensibly
to answer questions regarding the charges against me. I was called in at
10:00 a.m. and held until 8:00 p.m. I told the head of the department,
Investigator Abdullaev, that I was pregnant, that I needed to rest and
that I wanted to eat. (I didn't know then that they were planning to arrest
me.) I started feeling really ill and needed an ambulance. He brought me
the arrest warrant and said, "Here is your ambulance. Here is your doctor."
I tore the paper up and threw it at him. I said, "You have been tormenting
me for ten hours. Could you not have told me that you were going to arrest
me?" Then he ordered me taken to the basement cell, where they didn't feed
me for two days.
One day, Abdullaev called me in. He told
me I was caught: that Asiya and [Asiya's husband] Ergash [both of whom
were also in pre-trial detention at the time] had given signed statements
against me. He said, "Listen, all we're talking about is a couple of skins.
This is nickle-and-dime stuff for the NSS. [If you sign a confession,]
we will let you go home to your children." I told him I didn't believe
him... He said, "By the way, we haven't arrested your sister [yet]." I
said, "My sister? Are you planning to arrest my whole family? Over the
skins you say you have no interest in? If you think this is such an insignificant
matter, why have you held me here?" He said, "For being stubborn. You are
very stubborn, and that makes us crazy. First of all, you are stubborn.
Second, you don't speak with us the way you should. You made us angry,
so we decided to keep you locked up."
[When I kept refusing to sign,] the head
of the pre-trial detention facility called me in. He had treated me OK.
He said, "Nadira, they're going to do the abortion anyway, and if you don't
do it yourself, they will take you in handcuffs to Toshkent prison and
they'll do it there under bad conditions. And I will take the heat for
it. Do it for me -- I haven't done anything bad to you. For my sake, write
the statement that you are doing this voluntarily." And frankly, I fell
for it and signed. He had brought me books and treated me OK, so he just
bought my consent with that.
When asked why she thought officials had
coerced her into having the abortion, Ms. Turiniyazova said, "Because they
don't beat women." (54)
Prison officials released both women pending
trial on October 5, 1995, under pressure from the international community.
Discriminatory Dismissals from Work and Professional Blacklists
One of the most effective forms of punishment
of outspoken critics in these difficult economic times has been pressuring
institutions and other places of work to fire or not to hire dissidents.
(55) Since by far most jobs continue to be government jobs, the
state is in charge of most hiring decisions. It is in a position to influence
hiring practices in the private sector, as well. People remain on blacklists
for years, unable to support themselves and their families. Eventually,
relatives and dependents in many cases pressure them to foreswear their
opposition activities.
Former leading political activist Shukhrullo
Ismatullaev, under severe personal and economic strain (and following a
brutal beating, allegedly by secret service agents that hospitalized him
with a broken skull and brain damage for an extended period in 1993), signed
a statement in May 1994 that he would renounce his dissident political
activities. Within some six months, he was reinstated at the university
from which he had been fired, and promoted him to a position created for
him.
Leading opposition figure Shukhrullo Mirsaidov
(see "Cruel or Inhuman Treatment
or Punishment" and "Harassment") has been unable to work for several years,
even in the private sector. According to Mr. Mirsaidov, when a friend hired
him as a consultant in his private company, the government ordered the
entire enterprise liquidated for alleged tax violations.
(56) If true, the forced closure will undoubtedly make Mr. Mirsaidov
an employee most companies would not want to hire.
Nosir Zokir, a former political prisoner
(November 27, 1993, to November 2, 1994), is a singer and poet, and a member
of the Birlik Popular Movement and the nascent "Haq Iuul -- Adolat" Party.
Mr. Zokir was convicted on classically "political" charges for Uzbekistan:
"organized activities aimed against the government in a particularly dangerous
form" (ultimately dropped for lack of evidence) and illegal possession
of drugs and weapons (Articles 62, 216-6 and 210 of the Criminal Code,
respectively). His premature release under public pressure was conditioned
on the requirement that he sign a statement promising to reject all political
activities, further revealing the political nature of his arrest.
Mr. Zokir reported that he had been dismissed
from his job at a local theater in 1990 when he became involved in opposition
politics. Since his release from prison, Mr. Zokir has found that he, like
so many others, is on an employment blacklist. He recounted the following:
(57)
In the year since I was released, the
[security services] call me, observe me, but don't touch me. But they don't
allow me to work, either. I have already received three rejections. Recently,
I was offered a job at the Culture Palace. I knew it was too good to be
true. I guess she didn't know I was "a political." But within a few days
she called me and said, "I'm sorry, Nosir-jon. We are undergoing lay-offs."
Obviously, [the security services] had gotten to her. She had no choice.
This illegal practice has also been used
to punish members of "independent" Islam (see
"An Alarming New Trend: The Crackdown Against 'Independent' Muslims").
Imams believed to have been arbitrarily dismissed during the period covered
by this study include:
1. Rukhiddin Fakhruddinov (Khoja-Nuriddin mosque, Toshkent)
2. Kobylkori Mukhamedov (Kukaldosh mosque, Toshkent)
3. Tulkin [last name unconfirmed] (58) (Chukursoi mosque, Toshkent)
4. Abdukaium Khikmatov (Urykzor mosque, Toshkent)
5. Khalimkhan [last name unconfirmed] (Alaoka mosque, Toshkent)
6. Abdulla [last name unconfirmed] (Langar mosque, Toshkent)
7. Obitkhon Qori Sobitkhon-oghli Nazarov
(Tokhtaboi-vachcha mosque, Toshkent)
In addition, in November 1995, Fatima
Suleimanova, an Islamic specialist, professor, and sister of Khabibulla
Suleimanov, who was detained following the desecrations of Toshkent cemeteries
(see "Crackdown Against 'Independent'
Muslims"), was effectively stripped of her profession because of government
threats. An acquaintance of hers told Human Rights Watch/Helsinki:
(59)
She is the only female professor who teaches
religion. They would call her in and threaten her, and ultimately made
her sign a statement that she would stop teaching. They forbade her from
teaching in all of the madrasas where she taught. She also taught at home,
but they forbade her from even that.
Harassment by Law Enforcement and Security Services
By far, one of the most common reports
of state-sponsored abuse involves harassment by the police or security
services. These include arbitrary summonses for questioning, although no
charges are filed, threats, intimidation, and sometimes physical abuse
or lengthier detention. In most cases, these encounters occur frequently
enough to keep targeted individuals and their families, friends and neighbors
in a state of perpetual intimidation and fear. Some relatives are also
dismissed from work (see "Discriminatory
Dismissals") or are arrested (see
below).
In Uzbek culture, extended families and
clans form the basis of society, and traditionally every member is held
responsible for the reputation of the family as a whole. Thus, one of the
most insidious -- and effective -- means of punishing a dissident is to
harass and intimidate that person's relatives. Incidents of harassment
are too commonplace to enumerate here; a few recent examples may help convey
the nature of the abuse.
According to one Toshkent cleric, whose
name cannot be disclosed: (60)
Every time [security agents] call me or
come to my house when I'm not there and leave a note, asking me to call
them at work or at home. I call and ask them what they want. They say,
"We have a few questions for you. We have to meet." When they ask me to
go to their office I say no because I'm afraid they won't let me go afterwards.
That's why I arrange to meet somewhere where there are people around to
answer their questions... Do they cite articles of the Constitution or
the criminal code that I am supposed to have violated? No, it's just general
conversations.
Abdulla Mirzoev, a brother Abduvali Mirzoev,
a missing imam from Andijan, has been conducting an intensive advocacy
effort to inform Uzbekistan authorities about his brother's disappearance
and urge them to resolve it. Speaking of the constant surveillance his
brother had suffered prior to his disappearance, he reported the following
to Human Rights Watch/Helsinki: (61)
I have experienced it myself in Toshkent,
when I was looking for my brother. I was under heavy surveillance for five
or six days... [Finally,] I just stopped the [agents] and shamed them:
"You should be ashamed, tailing the relatives of the disappeared. I haven't
stolen anything, I haven't killed anyone. Why are you following me?" They
didn't say anything, but turned around and walked off.
I am followed constantly now. They do
everything to keep me from going to the Jo"mi mosque for Friday prayers.
People [who gather there] want to know where Abduvali Qori is, and it's
awkward to not let them know. People are sympathetic to us, for which we
are very grateful, and I am simply obliged to tell them the whole truth.
But the police call me in. Last Friday
I barely made it out of there, and today [a Friday] I literally had to
flee. This is how they do it: They summon me to the police station in the
morning. First the khokim [city official] speaks, then the deputy khokim,
they drag things out and then after 1:00 p.m. they don't need me anymore
[because prayers are over by then]. I believe that if anything were to
happen to me, it would be the second thing done by their hand.
Another brother, Abdubori Mirzoev, reportedly
was kept in the Andijan municipal pre-trial detention center for ten days
under administrative arrest after he returned from Moscow, where he had
participated in a press conference regarding his brother's disappearance.
Opposition leader Shukhrullo Mirsaidov
told Human Rights Watch/Helsinki representatives that security agents had
so badly intimidated and frightened his relatives that for the two days
prior to our meeting, they had come to him with personal pleas that he
not meet with us, that it was too risky. He also stated:
(62)
It's the old method. The same thing happened
when [then U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State] Nancy Ely-Raphel visited
Uzbekistan in June [1995]. This time, however, they directly threatened
the life of my son, Hasan, (63) and my
other son's wife, who was sick at the time and incapacitated. They told
my relatives, "If you value your life, don't go to the meeting." My family
begged me not to go, so ultimately I did not.
Following his April 1995 attack, allegedly
by security services, Shukhrullo Mirsaidov held a press conference for
journalists and diplomats. Vasila Inoiatova, a close associate of Mr. Mirsaidov
who helped organize the press conference, reports that afterwards she was
called into the NSS: (64)
They tried to persuade me to abandon my
work and threatened me: "Be careful that nothing like what happened to
Mirsaidov happens to you. You know the kind of policemen we have; they
work brutally. We are warning you."
Surveillance, Wiretapping, and Violation of the Right to Privacy
Article 27 of the Uzbekistan Constitution
provides that "everyone shall be entitled to protection against... interference
in his private life, and shall be guaranteed inviolability of the home.
No one may enter a home, carry out a search or an examination, or violate
the privacy of correspondence and telephone conversations, except on lawful
grounds." Article 17 of the ICCPR also guarantees protection from "unlawful
interference with... privacy, family, home or correspondence."
First Deputy of the General Procurator,
U. Khudaikulov, stated that according to subsection 3, chapter 21 of the
Uzbekistan Criminal Procedural Code, wire tapping may occur only with the
sanction of the procurator. He asserted that "wire-tapping occurs only
in exceptional cases, in the interests of [investigating] a criminal case,"
and that the Procuracy was unaware of cases in which unsanctioned wiretapping
had taken place. (65)
However, Human Rights Watch/Helsinki is
aware of countless reports of people who believe their phone calls and,
less often, their mail are monitored by the NSS. Many, for example, cite
cases in which harassment they later encounter -- such as being detained
during the visit of a foreign delegation or being arrested in Uzbekistan
after having been abroad -- coincided with dates they had mentioned only
over the telephone. Some, in fact, are so accustomed to the wiretaps that
they count on it to outwit the secret service. One well-known dissident
told Human Rights Watch/Helsinki that he regularly gives incorrect information
about his whereabouts or his plans to his wife over the phone in order
to throw them off his trail.
Human Rights Watch/Helsinki representatives
arriving at the home of dissident Nosir Zokir in Namangan were met by security
agents who had been placed at the entrance to his building. The meeting
had been arranged over the telephone between Human Rights Watch/Helsinki
and Mr. Zokir only.
Many also report surveillance of their
homes and of them personally as they move about on personal business. They
identify cars, often with no license plates, that are stationed around
their homes, most often with men in them who appear to have nothing to
do. Some of the individuals whom Human Rights Watch/Helsinki knows to have
been under surveillance in the past have reported that the detectable surveillance
has decreased since approximately 1995.
During a several-week absence from Toshkent
of Mikhail Ardzinov, co-deputy chairman of the independent Human Rights
Society of Uzbekistan, his neighbors reportedly told him that special agents
repeatedly came to see them to ask questions about Mr. Ardzinov. On December
20, 1995, during his absence, his apartment was broken into and his telephone
and camera were stolen. Mr. Ardzinov believes that government agents committed
the robbery since a police seal, with the name of the police officer Khaidarov,
was affixed to the door and since only his communication devices, not any
other valuables, were taken. (66)
Human Rights Watch/Helsinki representatives
were put under non-harassing surveillance during their two-week stay in
November 1995.
APPENDIX A: POLITICAL PRISONERS (67)
1. Abdulla ABDURAZZOQOV: Member
of "Erk" Party. Arrested for a second time on August 14, 1994, and sentenced
to three and a half years of imprisonment for alleged violation of Article
112G of the Criminal Code, for his reported possession of an issue of the
"Erk" newspaper, which was illegally banned in January 1993. It contained
an article allegedly slandering a relative of President Karimov, Abdurauf
Maqsudi.
2. Safar BEKJON: Member of "Erk"
Party. Arrested on July 27, 1993, on charges of violating Article 129 of
the old Criminal Code ("fraud") for the alleged theft of a valuable coin.
Sentenced to three years of imprisonment on February 16, 1994. It is believed
that Mr. Bekjon was charged in order to force him to give testimony against
Muhammad Solih, the exiled leader of the "Erk" Party.
3. Rashid BEKJON: Political affiliation
unclear, brother of Muhammad Solih, the exiled leader of the "Erk" Party.
Arrested in November of 1994, sentenced in August of 1995 to five years
of imprisonment on charges of violating Article 60, part 1, of the Criminal
Code ("anti-governmental appeals") and Article 68, part 1 ("contraband").
Reportedly, arresting agents planted an incriminating newspaper on Mr.
Bekjon, forming the ostensible basis for the Article 60, part 1, charges.
In August 1995, Mr. Bekjon is believed to be held in Urgench.
4. Nosim BOBEV: PhD in economics,
employee at the Samarqand oblast tax inspection. Arrested on February 16,
1996, along with colleagues Bakhtiar Nabii-oghli and Kholiknazar Ghaniev,
reportedly in connection with possession of banned newspapers.
5. Kholiknazar GHANIEV: Professor
at Samarqand State University. Arrested on February 16, 1996, along with
colleagues Bakhtiar Nabii-oghli and Nosim Bobev, reportedly in connection
with possession of banned newspapers.
6.
Abdurashid KUTBIDDINOV: Member of "Birlik" Democratic Movement. Arrested
around April 1995, and currently believed to be held in Toshkent Prison.
7. Makhmadali MAKHMUDOV: Arrested
on March 3, 1993, sentenced on December 30, 1994, to four years of imprisonment
on charges of violating Article 120 ("appropriation and embezzlement")
-- approximately $20 U.S. -- and Article 149 ("abuse of power or official
position"). All charges are believed to have been falsified and evidence
planted.
8. Shavqat MAMATOV: Arrested on
June 6, 1994, on charges of attempted terrorist acts and related charges,
currently serving a three-and-a-half-year (originally five-year) prison
term. See also Appendix
C.
9.
Bakhtiar NABII-OGHLI: Professor at Samarqand State University. Arrested
on February 16, 1996, along with colleagues Nosim Bobev and Bakhtiar Nabii-oghli,
reportedly in connection with possession of banned newspapers.
10. Abdughani OCHILOV: Deputy Chairman
of the Cultural Foundation, member of "Erk" Party. Arrested April 2, 1993,
sentenced on August 23, 1994, to three years of imprisonment. Charged with
violating Article 216 (6), part 1 (illegal drug possession) and Article
129, part 1 (fraud), of the Criminal Code. The narcotics were alleged to
have been planted on him by arresting agents.
11. Khoshim SUVANOV: Arrested on
June 6, 1994, in connection with charges of attempted terrorism against
the government of Uzbekistan, currently serving three and a half years
of an original five-year sentence. He reported that the guards who beat
him demanded that he give incriminating testimony against his fellow defendants
and against leading political dissident Muhammad Solih, who was living
in exile at the time.
1. Akhmad ABDURASULOV: Arrested
in August 1993 along with four other individuals (listed here: Abdulla
Baratov, Karim Islamov, Khusnutdin Kubutdinov and Madamin Mirzaiaqubov).
The men, who reportedly were intending to attend an institution of higher
Islamic learning in Afghanistan and from there make a pilgrimage to Mecca,
were charged with "betrayal of the motherland" (Articles 54 and 60 of the
Criminal Code) and illegally crossing a border (Article 73). The men were
convicted and sentenced to prison terms ranging from five to ten years.
2. Tolibjon ARTYKOV: Arrested in
early November 1995, in Andijan. Charges unclear.
3. Abdulla BARATOV:See
Akhmad Abdurasulov.
4.
Abduvali EGAMBERDIEV: Arrested in 1995, reportedly on charges of illegal
possession of illegal weapons and drugs.
5. Abdurauf GHAFUROV: Arrested
November 9, 1994, sentenced on May 5, 1994, to three years of imprisonment.
6. Rafikjon GHAFUROV: Imam of the
Ok-Tepe mosque in Iaipan, near Qoqand. Arrested August 17, 1994, and sentenced
in 1995 to one and a half years in prison.
7. Karim ISLAMOV: See
Akhmad Abdurasulov. Mr. Islamov faced additional charges: violence, illegal
deprivation of freedom (Article 111); use of religious superstition [and]
inciting religious superstition among mass populations and material gain
from such actions (Article 147); and threat or violence directed against
an official authority (Article 194, parts 1 and 2).
8.
Mullo JALOLIDDIN: Imam from Sukhandarinskaia oblast'. Taught children
Islam. Arrested August 1994.
9. Makhmud KENJAEV: Arrested in
August 1994, and sentenced to ten years of imprisonment.
10. Khusnutdin KUBUTDINOV: See
Akhmad Abdurasulov.
11.
Abdulla MAKHMUDOV: Arrested on February 6, 1995, sentenced to four
years of imprisonment, reportedly on charges of illegal possession of weapons
and narcotics.
12. Ghulomqodir MAMUTOV: Arrested
in 1995 in Andijan, reportedly on charges of illegal possession of illegal
weapons and drugs.
13. Mukhammad RAJABOV: Imam of
Jo"mi mosque in Qoqand. Arrested August 24, 1994, sentenced on June 30,
1995, severe regime. On October 2, 1995, a review by the Supreme Court
decreased the sentence to four years; however, his family (seven children
and a wife) stand to lose all of the family property through confiscation.
APPENDIX C: PROBABLE STATE-SPONSORED DISAPPEARANCES
1. Sheikh Abduvali Qori MIRZOEV:
Leading imam at the nongovernmental Jo"mi mosque in the city of Andijan.
He had a wide following, and it is believed that the governmental Spiritual
Directorate of Uzbekistan, which oversees religious activities in the republic,
perceived him and his congregation to be a threat to centralized religion.
According to witnesses, on August 29, 1995, he and his assistant, Ramazanbek
Matkarimov (see below), were
seized by agents of the National Security Service (the former KGB) and
taken away in a car as they were checking in for a flight to Moscow from
Toshkent airport. Sheikh Mirzoev was traveling to speak at a conference
of Muslims in Russia.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs has initiated
an investigation into his unexplained disappearance, but as of this writing
reportedly has uncovered no leads. It is believed that Sheikh Mirzoev and
Mr. Matkarimov are in police custody.
2. Ramazanbek MATKARIMOV: Sheikh
Mirzoev's assistant (see above).
Mr. Matkarimov reportedly was taken away with the Sheikh and under the
same circumstances. He is also believed to be in police custody.
3. Abdulla UTAEV: Leader, banned
"Islamic Renaissance Party of Uzbekistan." Mr. Utaev, who also reportedly
was an informal religious leader, disappeared on December 15, 1992, in
Toshkent.
APPENDIX D: RECENT VICTIMS OF CRUEL, INHUMAN OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT IN DETENTION
1. Erkin ASHUROV: Arrested on June
17, 1994, on charges of attempted terrorist acts and related charges, he
is currently serving a seven-and-a-half (originally ten-year) sentence.
During his arrest (he was kidnaped by security agents in neighboring Kazakstan
and forcibly taken to Uzbekistan to stand trial), he reportedly was severely
beaten, suffering numerous contusions, bruises that lasted some three weeks,
and the loss of several teeth. Mr. Ashurov reportedly suffers from diabetes
and it is feared that the severe conditions of prison are having an irreversibly
damaging effect on his health.
2. Murad DZHURAEV: Arrested on
June 17 or 18, 1994, currently serving a nine-year (originally twelve-year)
sentence. During his arrest (he was kidnaped by security agents in neighboring
Kazakstan and forcibly taken to Uzbekistan to stand trial), he reportedly
was severely beaten, suffering numerous contusions. It is also reported
that his rib was broken during arrest, although it is not clear whether
it was from physical abuse or from the car accident he was in as he was
being taken from Kazakstan to prison in Uzbekistan.
3. Nadira KHIDOIATOVA: Arrested
on July 11, 1995, in Toshkent on charges of violating Article 15-68 of
the Criminal Code of Uzbekistan (seizing contraband property). Under pressure
from the prison administration, she was coerced into having an abortion
in custody. (Uzbekistan prison practice is to release pregnant criminal
suspects on their own recognizance pending trial.) After public outcry,
Ms. Khidoiatova was released from detention on October 5, 1995.
4. Shavqat MAMATOV: Arrested on
June 6, 1994, on charges of attempted terrorist acts and related charges,
currently serving a three-and-a-half-year (originally five-year) prison
term. Reportedly, he was severely and repeatedly beaten during interrogations
at the time of his arrest and during the investigation. In one instance,
when he was being transported from one detention center to another, his
guards reportedly pulled off the road and began beating him, put a gun
to his temple and said they would shoot him if he did not write a statement
saying he had been involved in organizing a plot against the government.
Mr. Mamatov has maintained his innocence.
5. Khoshim SUVANOV: Arrested on
June 6, 1994, in connection with charges of attempted terrorism against
the government of Uzbekistan, currently serving three and a half years
of an original five-year sentence. In testimony to a human rights activist
who attended his trial, he stated that he was constantly viciously beaten
during interrogations. Guards would beat him with clubs, particularly on
his kidneys when he begged them not to (he has chronic hepatitis). He reports
suffering internal bleeding.
6. Asia TURINIYAZOVA: Arrested on July 11, 1995, on the day of her wedding in her home in Nukus on charges of illegally transporting contraband property, connected with charges against Nadira Khidoiatova (see above). Under pressure from the prison administration, she was coerced into having an abortion in custody. After public outcry, Ms. Khidoiatova was released from detention on October 5, 1995.
APPENDIX E: HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH/HELSINKI LETTER TO PRESIDENT KARIMOV, SEPTEMBER 19, 1995
HUMAN
RIGHTS WATCH/HELSINKI
485 Fifth Avenue., New York, NY 10017 TEL (212) 972-8400 FAX (212) 972-0905
1522 K. Street, NW #910, Washington, DC 20005-1202 TEL (202) 371-6592 FAX (202) 371-0124
33 Islington High Street, N1 9LH London, UK TEL (44171) 713-1995 FAX (4471) 713-1800
15 rue Van Campenhout, 1040 Brussels, Belgium TEL (322) 732-2009 FAX (322) 732-0471
Moscow,
Russian Federation, TEL and FAX (7095) 265-4448
September
19, 1995
President Islam Karimov
Office of the President
Toshkent
Republic of Uzbekistan
By fax: (7) (3712) 39.55.25
Dear President Karimov,
As you may know, Human Rights Watch is
an independent, nonpartisan human rights group -- the largest based in
the United States and the second largest in the world. Since 1993 the organization
has also enjoyed consultative status with the United Nations. Our representatives
had the honor to travel to your country and to meet with Foreign Minister
Komilov and Justice Minister Mardiev this June in Washington, D.C. I take
this opportunity to express my thanks to them for taking the time to meet
with us. We are gratified by their expressions of readiness to cooperation
in promoting human rights protections in Uzbekistan and look forward to
future opportunities to be of assistance in this critical venture.
I write to you today to express profound
concern about a case of serious abuse in the capital that has recently
come to our attention. Reportedly, twenty-seven-year-old Nadira Khidoiatova,
the niece of Uzbekistan's former Ambassador to the U.S. Bobur Malik-oghli
(who was granted political asylum in the United States in 1993), was arrested
on or around July 11, 1995. Her co-worker, Asia Turaniyazova, who is also
in her twenties and is a Rockefeller Fund grant recipient working on ecological
issues in her native Karakalpakistan, was also reportedly taken into custody
that same day. Soon after, it is reported, the two women were moved to
a cell at the National Security Service (former KGB). According to their
lawyers, they are being charged with violating Article 182, part A, of
the Customs Code, which restricts the export of animal skins from the Republic
of Uzbekistan.
It is reported that these women -- both
of whom were pregnant at the time of their arrest (Ms. Khidoiatova approximately
three-months pregnant and Ms. Turaniyazova reportedly already in her fifth
or sixth month) -- were forced by prison officials to undergo abortions.
According to two relatives who have seen Ms. Khidoiatova, law enforcement
officials responsible for the case threatened that if she and they did
not give formal consent to the abortion they would take her out of the
hospital and perform it anyway and "in worse conditions -- someplace you
won't find her." Moreover, NSS investigator Bakhtior Abdullaev reportedly
threatened them that if anyone brought the arrest and abortions to the
public attention "it will be worse for her."
According to their lawyers, whom Human
Rights Watch/Helsinki interviewed in separate conversations, both women
had been told independently by medical personnel arranged by the prison
that the fetus was immature (probably meaning malformed) or, according
to one report, dead, and that an abortion was therefore required for medical
reasons. However, an American gynecologist has testified that a dead or
deformed fetus can be detected only through an examination administered
by sonogram, and no earlier than in the fifth month of gestation. No sonogram
was believed to have been used in wither examination. Moreover, according
to the American gynecologist, in the fifth month a mother can counter assertions
that her fetus is dead by detecting movement in the uterus. Independently,
both lawyers have stated that their clients told them that they had no
physical complaints prior to the abortion and did not want to terminate
their pregnancies voluntarily.
Individuals familiar with the case believe
that this appalling treatment was ordered because Uzbekistan law requires
that pregnant women be released pending trial; terminating the pregnancies
would allow detaining officials to keep the women in custody legally. Both
women would have had to have been coerced into admitting guilt since at
the time the abortions were carried out they had protested their innocence
of the charges lodged against them. Ms. Turaniyazova's attorney reported
in September that she had been informed that her client had admitted guilt
following her abortion. Since her chosen lawyer was not present at the
time of her alleged confession, and since the alleged admission followed
intimidation and extreme physical and psychological abuse, her apparent
change of position is highly suspect and lends credence to the theory that
the abortions were carried out in order to elicit an admission of guilt.
In a conversation with a Human Rights
Watch/Helsinki representative, Inspector Abdullaev would neither confirm
nor deny that the women were in his custody. He also refused to answer
any other questions, but declined to give an explanation for his refusal
to do so. His only response to questions was to ask who had provided Human
Rights Watch/Helsinki with the information about the women..This questions
raises great alarm that he may wish to carry out his threat, reportedly
expressed to Ms. Khidoiatova's relatives, that there would be negative
repercussions against the suspect if information were revealed to an international
monitor.
Clearly, it is irrelevant whether or not
these two women are innocent or guilty of a crime. The fact of their grossly
inhuman treatment alone demands the strongest form of condemnation and
immediate intervention. There is an urgent humanitarian need for Ms. Khidoiatova
and Ms. Turaniyazova to be examined by independent medical experts and,
if necessary, to be treated for physical and psychological trauma. We urge
you to use your good offices to secure the immediate release of these two
women into the custody of relatives or other individuals acceptable to
the defendants and the court; initiate an investigation into their inhuman
treatment by law enforcement agents; and prosecute and punish their abuse
to the fullest extent of the law.
We welcome your government's increased
attention to the human rights concerns of international observers and believe
that this case provides an ideal opportunity to back those sentiments through
concrete action toward protecting human rights.
Do not hesitate to contact me if I can
be of any assistance. Thank you in advance for your attention to these
profoundly disturbing reports.
Respectfully,
/s/
Holly Cartner
Executive Director
Human Rights Watch/Helsinki
cc: Procurator General of Uzbekistan
Director, National Security Service
Minister of Internal Affairs
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Nigel Rodley, U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture
Secretary General Wilhelm Höynck, OSCE
Amb. Audrey F. Glover, ODIHR, OSCE
Amb. Sadik Safajew, Mission of Uzbekistan to the OSCE
Amb. Sam W. Brown, Jr., Mission of the
U.S. to the OSCE
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State John Shattuck
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Nancy Ely-Raphel
Amb. Stanley T. Escudero, Embassy of the
United States to Uzbekistan
International mass media
APPENDIX F: HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH/HELSINKI LETTER TO SHAHNOZA GHANIEVA, JANUARY 30, 1996
HUMAN
RIGHTS WATCH/HELSINKI
485 Fifth Avenue., New York, NY 10017 TEL (212) 972-8400 FAX (212) 972-0905
1522 K. Street, NW #910, Washington, DC 20005-1202 TEL (202) 371-6592 FAX (202) 371-0124
33 Islington High Street, N1 9LH London, UK TEL (44171) 713-1995 FAX (4471) 713-1800
15 rue Van Campenhout, 1040 Brussels, Belgium TEL (322) 732-2009 FAX (322) 732-0471
Moscow,
Russian Federation, TEL and FAX (7095) 265-4448
January
30, 1996
Ms. Shahnoza Ghanieva
State Television and Radio
Toshkent
Republic of Uzbekistan
By
fax, c/o Ministry of Foreign Affairs: (7) (3712) 33.68.12
Dear
Ms. Ghanieva:
On
behalf of Human Rights Watch/Helsinki, allow us to express our thanks to
you for taking the time to meet with our representatives during our recent
trip to Uzbekistan. We greatly value the open dialogue with you.
It
is in the interests of such openness that we write to express our shock
and outrage at the distorted presentation of the interview with Jonathan
Fanton that you aired last month over "Orbita" via "Novosti" Russian Television.
We have obtained a copy of that broadcast and cannot but be appalled at
the willful disregard for accuracy that it displayed. Our concerns about
serious human rights violations in Uzbekistan were edited out and replaced
by an entirely false statement that we had found the reports of abuse that
we had before our visit to be "tendentious" and "not entirely objective."
In fact, we found them to be entirely accurate.
The
distortion is disappointing not only because it violated the personal promise
you made to broadcast accurately, but because it is further evidence of
the censorship and propaganda that continues in Uzbekistan, despite government
pledges to reform.
We
ask you for an immediate written apology and public correction of the record.
You
have done a grave disservice to our organization, to the cause of human
rights, and to the image of the government of Uzbekistan as anything but
a flagrant violator of human rights. We are currently circulating information
about the distorted broadcast to the international community and hold you,
as director and chief editor, personally accountable.
Sincerely,
/s/ /s/
Holly Cartner Jonathan F. Fanton
Executive
Director Chairman, Advisory Board
cc: President Islam Karimov
Ministry
of Foreign Affairs
U.N. Resident Coordinator Khalid Malik
O.S.C.E. Ambassador Alois Reznik
U.S. Ambassador Stanley T. Escudero
U.K.
Ambassador Barbara Hay
APPENDIX G: HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH/HELSINKI LETTER TO PRESIDENT KARIMOV, MARCH 19, 1996
HUMAN
RIGHTS WATCH/HELSINKI
485 Fifth Avenue., New York, NY 10017 TEL (212) 972-8400 FAX (212) 972-0905
1522 K. Street, NW #910, Washington, DC 20005-1202 TEL (202) 371-6592 FAX (202) 371-0124
33 Islington High Street, N1 9LH London, UK TEL (44171) 713-1995 FAX (4471) 713-1800
15 rue Van Campenhout, 1040 Brussels, Belgium TEL (322) 732-2009 FAX (322) 732-0471
Moscow,
Russian Federation, TEL and FAX (7095) 265-4448
March
19, 1996
President Islam Karimov
Office of the President
Toshkent
Republic of Uzbekistan
By
fax: (7) (3712) 39.55.25
Dear
President Karimov,
Human
Rights Watch/Helsinki writes to express its profound concern over the welfare
of three men who reportedly were arrested on February 16, 1996, and currently
are being held in the Samarqand regional (oblast') pre-trial detention
facility. Kholiknazar Ghaniev and Bakhtiar Nabii-oghli are professors at
Samarqand State University, and Nosim Bobev is a PhD in Economics and their
colleague who works at the Samarqand oblast Tax Inspection. All three are
believed to be in their forties.
It
is reported that they are under investigation for illegal possession of
narcotics, a charge often lodged against critics of the government when
there is no evidence to justify an arrest. In actuality, it is reported
that these men are being punished for possession and distribution of banned
opposition newspapers: "Erk," "Forum" and "Birlik." At least two other
individuals are known to be currently incarcerated for similar "offenses"
in Uzbekistan: Abdulla Abdurazzoqov and Rashid Begjon.
As
you know, censorship is strictly prohibited by Article 29 of the constitution
of Uzbekistan, which states that "Everyone... shall have the right to seek,
obtain and disseminate any information." Nonetheless, censorship and control
of the media are widely practiced, with the result that newspapers are
banned and individuals allegedly affiliated with them or in possession
of them are punished.
Human
Rights Watch/Helsinki condemns these arrests as part of a continuing effort
to suppress peaceful free speech. We respectfully call on you to use your
good offices to release these individuals immediately.
Thank
you for your attention to the serious concerns raised in this letter.
Respectfully,
/s/ /s/
Holly Cartner Jonathan F. Fanton
Executive Director Chairman, Advisory Board
Human Rights Watch/Helsinki Human Rights Watch/Helsinki
APPENDIX H: HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH/HELSINKI LETTER TO PRESIDENT KARIMOV, APRIL 2, 1996
HUMAN
RIGHTS WATCH/HELSINKI
485 Fifth Avenue., New York, NY 10017 TEL (212) 972-8400 FAX (212) 972-0905
1522 K. Street, NW #910, Washington, DC 20005-1202 TEL (202) 371-6592 FAX (202) 371-0124
33 Islington High Street, N1 9LH London, UK TEL (44171) 713-1995 FAX (4471) 713-1800
15 rue Van Campenhout, 1040 Brussels, Belgium TEL (322) 732-2009 FAX (322) 732-0471
Moscow,
Russian Federation, TEL and FAX (7095) 265-4448
April
2, 1996
President Islam Karimov
Presidential Palace
Toshkent
Republic of Uzbekistan
and
by fax: (7) (3712) 39.55.25
Dear
President Karimov,
As
you know, Human Rights Watch/Helsinki monitors compliance with the human
rights provisions of the Helsinki Accords in signatory countries. We welcome
the dialogue with you and your government.
We
write you today to express our profound concern about reports that Polina
Braunerg, an attorney from Almalyk and member of the Board of the nongovernmental
and as yet unregistered Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan, and her son
have been subjected to intimidation and harassment from investigative bodies
and that a criminal case is being prepared against her.
According
to several sources, on March 14, two individuals who refused to identify
themselves detained her and brought her to the State Security Service (SNB)
offices in Almalyk, claiming that her sixteen-year-old son Nikita had been
arrested. At the SNB, Ms. Braunerg reportedly was questioned by a Mr. Khikmatov,
a special investigator for the Military Procuracy for Especially Important
Matters. During the interrogation, Mr. Khikmatov reportedly told Ms. Braunerg
that he had obtained testimony by a Mr. Milov concerning her alleged involvement
in the illegal precious metals trade.
That
same day, a search was made of Miss Braunerg's home, lasting from 8:00
p.m. to 12:30 a.m., led by Counterintelligence Colonel Polatov. The search
was conducted on the basis of a warrant from the Military Procurator of
Uzbekistan, signed by the Procurator's deputy, whose name was not indicated.
Law enforcement officials reportedly found nothing relating to the trade
of precious metals; however, they confiscated copies of the Russian newspapers Forum
and Izvestia.
(Ms. Braunerg had brought them from Moscow and Almaty, where she had participated
in international human rights conferences.) As you know, these newspapers
are banned in Uzbekistan despite constitutional guarantees of the right
to freely seek, obtain and disseminate information (Article 29 of the Constitution
of the Republic of Uzbekistan) and the prohibition on censorship (Article
67).
During
this time, Ms. Braunerg's son was detained along with two acquaintances.
Both mother and son were released at 2:00 a.m., with instructions for both
to appear at the SNB offices at 10:00 the following morning, March 15.
They spent the entire day March 15, until 10:00 p.m., in separate SNB cells,
without being interrogated or being involved in any other investigative
operations. They were released without receiving a written statement concerning
their detention.
On
March 16, SNB Major Shavkat Rakhimov interrogated Ms. Braunerg for four
hours, during which time he reportedly threatened to keep her in the SNB
prison and demanded that she reveal whom she was spying for, who financed
her trips to Moscow and Almaty, and that she provide information about
her contacts with human rights activists and organizations. In addition,
the SNB confiscated Ms. Braunerg's internal passport and that of her son.
We
are concerned that legal activities such as possessing newspapers continues
to be a basis for illegal punishment in Uzbekistan. Punishing persons for
their peaceful expression or for the acquisition of information violates
Uzbekistan's domestic and international obligations to protect fundamental
civil liberties. The harassment of Ms. Braunerg and her son also directly
contradicts assurances made to Jonathan F. Fanton, chairman of Human Rights
Watch/Helsinki's Advisory Board, by high-level officials of your government
during meetings in Toshkent in November 1995 that citizens will no longer
suffer retribution for peaceful involvement in politics or human rights
activities.
We
respectfully urge you to use your good offices to insure that harassment
of Ms. Braunerg and her son ceases immediately, and that their passports
are returned to them without delay. We also take this opportunity to reiterate
our support for the work of the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan and
for their application for registration as a social organization.
Thank
you for your attention to this urgent matter.
Sincerely yours,
/s/
Holly Cartner
Executive Director
Human
Rights Watch/Helsinki
cc: Mr. Abdulazziz Komilov, Minister of Foreign Affairs
Ms. Sayora Rashidova, Human Rights Ombudsman
Amb.
Fatikh Teshabaev, Uzbekistan Ambassador to the United States
Amb. Audrey F. Glover, ODIHR-OSCE
Amb. Alois Reznik, OSCE Regional Liaison Office in Toshkent
U.N. Centre for Human Rights
U.N. Development Agency
European Commission
Amb. John Shattuck, U.S. Department of State
Amb.
Stanley T. Escudero, U.S. Embassy in Toshkent
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Human
Rights Watch/Helsinki is grateful to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the
Ministry of Justice, the Procuracy General, the Ministry of Internal Affairs,
and the Mission of the Republic of Uzbekistan to the United Nations for
their cooperation in fact-finding and in facilitating our work in Uzbekistan.
The
organization also acknowledges with profound gratitude the help of several
individuals in researching and writing this report, among them (in alphabetical
order) Mikhail Ardzinov, Khazratkul Khudoiberdiev, Albert Musin, Makhmadamin
Narzikulov, Pulatjon Okhunov, and Abdumannob Polat. Many other individuals,
whose names must be withheld, cannot be mentioned here, but deserve our
public thanks.
We gratefully
acknowledge the Carnegie Corporation, the Henry M. Jackson Foundation,
the Moriah Fund and the John Merck Fund for generous support of the Human
Rights Watch/Helsinki's work on Russia and of its Moscow office, which
contributed to this report.
* * *
Human Rights Watch/Helsinki
Human
Rights Watch is a nongovernmental organization established in 1978 to monitor
and promote the observance of internationally recognized human rights in
Africa, the Americas, Asia, the Middle East and among the signatories of
the Helsinki accords. It is supported by contributions from private individuals
and foundations worldwide. It accepts no government funds, directly or
indirectly. The staff includes Kenneth Roth, executive director; Cynthia
Brown, program director; Holly J. Burkhalter, advocacy director; Barbara
Guglielmo, finance and administration director; Robert Kimzey, publications
director; Jeri Laber, special advisor; Gara LaMarche, associate director;
Lotte Leicht, Brussels office director; Juan Méndez, general counsel;
Susan Osnos, communications director; Jemera Rone, counsel; and Joanna
Weschler, United Nations representative. Robert L. Bernstein is the chair
of the board and Adrian W. DeWind is vice chair. Its Helsinki division
was established in 1978 to monitor and promote domestic and international
compliance with the human rights provisions of the 1975 Helsinki Accords.
It is affiliated with the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights,
which is based in Vienna, Austria. Holly Cartner is the executive director;
Erika Dailey, Rachel Denber, Christopher Panico, and Diane Paul are research
associates; Ivan Lupis and Maxine Marcus are research assistants; Anne
Kuper, Alexander Petrov, and Shira Robinson are associates. Jonathan Fanton
is the chair of the advisory committee and Alice Henkin is vice chair.
Gopher Address://gopher.humanrights.org:5000
Listserv
address: To subscribe to the list, send an e-mail message to majordomo@igc.apc.org
with "subscribe hrw-news" in the body of the message (leave the subject
line blank).
seeHuman
Rights in Uzbekistan, Helsinki Watch, May 1993.
0
The five pillars are: 1) the declaration of faith (shahada);
2) prayer five times per day (salah);
3) alms (zakat); 4) fasting
during the month of Ramadan; and 5) performing the pilgrimage to the holy
city of Mecca (Saudi Arabia) (hajj).
0
Christopher R. Kedzie, "Religion and Ethnicity in Central Asia," Central
Asia Monitor, 3/1992 (May-June), pp. 14-15; cited in Roger D. Kangas,
"The Three Faces of Islam in Uzbekistan," Transition,
vol. 1, no. 24, December 29, 1995, p. 18.
4. Statement, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the
Republic of Uzbekistan, received by Amnesty International on December 11,
1995, p. 4. Forwarded courtesy of Ian Gorvin, Amnesty International Secretariat,
London.
5. Uzbekistan Television, February 19, 1995, as
reported by the BBC; cited in Open Media Research Institute (OMRI) Daily
Digest, No, 38, Part I, 22 February 1995.
10. Human Rights Watch/Helsinki interview, Toshkent,
November 20, 1995.
14. According to a Ministry of Foreign Affairs
statement, Mr. Samsutdinov gave testimony to the Procuracy that was recorded
on videotape that he did not know Mr. Mirzoev and hadn't looked for anyone
during the flight, but that he had been urged by Mr. Mirzoev's brother
to say that he had.
15. Statement received December 11, 1995, by
the Bermuda chapter of Amnesty International, p. 1. Forwarded courtesy
of Ian Gorvin, Amnesty International Secretariat, London.
18. Statement received December 11, 1995, by
the Bermuda chapter of Amnesty International, p. 2.
19. Human Rights Watch/Helsinki interview, Toshkent,
November 20, 1995.
24. Human Rights Watch/Helsinki interview with
Ibragim Buriev, Toshkent, November 13, 1995.
27. Human Rights Watch/Helsinki interview with
Vasila Inoiatova, Moscow, February 14 and 16, 1996.
37. Human Rights Watch/Helsinki interview, Toshkent,
November 21, 1995.
40. Human Rights Watch/Helsinki interview, Toshkent,
November 20, 1995.
42. Human Rights Watch/Helsinki interview, Toshkent,
November 20, 1995.
43. Human Rights Watch/Helsinki interview, Toshkent,
November 20, 1995.
45. Human Rights Watch/Helsinki interview, Toshkent,
November 20, 1995.
46. Human Rights Watch/Helsinki interview, Toshkent,
November 14, 1995.
47. Human Rights Watch/Helsinki telephone interview,
Toshkent, April 1995. 51. Ms. Khidoiatova identified the charges as
violations of Article 182-Ia, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported
it was Article 15-68, of the criminal code.
52. Letter from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
of the Republic of Uzbekistan, October 3, 1995, provided courtesy of the
OSCE Liaison Office in Toshkent.
53. Human Rights Watch/Helsinki interview, Toshkent,
November 13, 1995.
54. Human Rights Watch/Helsinki telephone interview,
Toshkent, October 18, 1995.
56. Human Rights Watch/Helsinki interview, Toshkent,
November 14, 1995.
57. Human Rights Watch/Helsinki interview, November
17, 1995, Namangan.
58. In Uzbek culture, it is common for individuals
to be known broadly only by their first name.
62. Human Rights Watch/Helsinki interview, Toshkent,
November 19, 1995.
63. Hasan reportedly had been beaten, kidnaped
and terrorized during the April 18, 1995, attack on his father. 65. Human Rights Watch/Helsinki interview, Toshkent,
November 20, 1995.
67. Human Rights Watch/Helsinki has compiled
this list from available information and has determined to the best of
our ability that the people on this list did not commit the crime for which
they were convicted, but rather were imprisoned for the free and internationally
protected expression of their views.
68. Human Rights Watch/Helsinki has compiled
this list from available information and has determined to the best of
our ability that the people on this list did not commit the crime for which
they were convicted, but rather were imprisoned for the free and internationally
protected expression of their beliefs.