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July 19, 2007
Office of the Ombudsman
Dear Mrs. Rashidova,
I am writing to seek information about the response of the office of the ombudsman to allegations of ill-treatment, including torture, in police lock ups, pre-trial detention facilities and prisons in Uzbekistan. Human Rights Watch is currently gathering information about this issue for a report we plan for autumn 2007. In the interests of objectivity, we would like to ensure our report properly reflects the ombudsman office’s views, information, polices and practices regarding ill-treatment, including torture. We would therefore be most grateful for replies to a number of questions outlined below. Because the report will be published in November 2007, we hope to receive an answer by September 1. If we receive your comments by then, we will certainly reflect them in our publication.
We are familiar with the Uzbek government’s report “Information on implementation of recommendations of UN Special Rapporteur on Torture” delivered by the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Uzbekistan to the OSCE on October 16, 2006 and with the “Third Periodic Report” submitted by the Republic of Uzbekistan to the United Nations Committee Against Torture on July 1, 2005. And we are also familiar with the “Report of the Authorized Person of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan for Human Rights (Ombudsman) for 2005”. Based on the information provided in these reports and the often contradictory information Human Rights Watch’s representative office in Tashkent has gathered at trials and during numerous interviews with torture victims, their relatives, and with lawyers, we have the following questions:
How many complaints specifically of torture and ill-treatment did your office receive in 2002 and in each of the following years?
Can you identify either individuals, and/or the agencies or units that employ them, that have been the subject of allegations of either torture or ill-treatment?
What are the specifics of the allegations? Can you give representative illustrations?
How many full investigations--as opposed to preliminary inquiries-- have the authorities commenced in response to the complaints and allegations?
How many complaints submitted to your office later resulted in prosecutions for torture, ill-treatment and/or assault?
How many prosecutions of such cases led to convictions and what were the sentences imposed?
In how many instances were disciplinary measures taken as a result of such complaints? In how many of these cases were disciplinary measures taken instead of prosecution, and in how many were disciplinary measures taken in addition to prosecution? Please describe what sort of disciplinary measures have been taken in representative cases.
How many victims received compensation for torture or ill-treatment and what was the range of compensation?
Does the office of the ombudsman have a system for monitoring trials for allegations of torture and other ill-treatment that are made at trial? And whether any further action is taken by your office once such allegations are brought to its attention, and what such actions may be?
How many defendants alleged at trial that they had been tortured or ill-treated in 2002 and in each of the following years?
How many investigations into such allegations made at trial were conducted in 2002 and in each of the following years, and what were the outcomes of such investigations?
What safeguards the office of the Ombudsman puts in place, if any, to ensure the unhindered access of lawyers to their clients in pre-trial detention and prison and to guarantee meetings in privacy?
How many complaints specifically of torture and ill-treatment in prisons did your office receive during prison visits in 2002 and in each of the following years?
A response can be sent to me, in Uzbek, Russian, or English, either by fax, at 212.736.1300 or by email at cartneh@hrw.org. I would also be happy to meet with the Uzbek ambassador to the United States to discuss these questions.
I thank you in advance for your cooperation.
Sincerely,
Holly Cartner
Europe and Central Asia Director
Human Rights Watch
November 2007
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