(HRW/IFEX) – The following is an 18 August 1999 Human Rights Watch press release: UZBEK TORTURE VICTIMS SENTENCED TO PRISON TERMS Describe Brutal Torture Methods (New York, August 18, 1999) — Disregarding allegations of torture, an Uzbek court today convicted six men with ties to a banned political party in a high-profile political trial. The […]
(HRW/IFEX) – The following is an 18 August 1999 Human Rights Watch press
release:
UZBEK TORTURE VICTIMS SENTENCED TO PRISON TERMS
Describe Brutal Torture Methods
(New York, August 18, 1999) — Disregarding allegations of torture, an Uzbek
court today convicted six men with ties to a banned political party in a
high-profile political trial. The men were sentenced to prison terms
ranging from 8 to 15 years for participation in a “criminal society” and for
using the mass media to publicly insult the President of Uzbekistan, among
other charges.
The attorney for four of the men reported that all six defendants, including
the brothers of exiled political opposition leader Muhammad Solih, testified
that they had been cruelly and repeatedly tortured. A statement signed by
all six claimed that torture methods included electric shocks, beatings with
batons and plastic bottles filled with water, and the use of the “bag of
death,” a plastic bag used to temporarily suffocate victims. Authorities
forced all six – Muhammad Bekjanov, Rashid Bekjanov, Kobil Dierov, Mamadali
Mahmudov, Ne’mat Sharipov, and Iusuf Ruzimuradov – to sign
self-incriminating statements and coerced several to declare their guilt on
a government-sponsored national television program.
“This is an appalling example of political persecution,” said Holly Cartner,
Executive Director of Human Rights Watch’s Europe and Central Asia Division.
“These men were arrested, tortured and now convicted for possession of a
banned newspaper, for their political affiliation and for no other reason.”
The six men were convicted because of their alleged affiliation with Erk
(Freedom), a political party, founded in 1990 and banned by Uzbek
authorities in December 1992. Its leader, Muhammad Solih, was the only
candidate to run against President Islam Karimov in the presidential
elections of 1991. He was forced into exile in 1994, fleeing arrest on
fabricated criminal charges. This latest round of political arrests and
convictions comes against a backdrop of widespread arbitrary and
discriminatory arrests following the February 16 bombings in Tashkent. The
government has publicly implicated Solih as a conspirator in the bombings, a
charge he denies.
Uzbek authorities barred local and international observers from attending
the trial, including representatives from the OSCE Liaison Office. One
defendant, however, managed to deliver a copy of his court testimony to
Human Rights Watch. In it, renowned writer Mamadali Mahmudov describes the
horrifying torture methods and threats used by Uzbek authorities to force
him to confess:
“…in the basement, they regularly beat me…they burned my legs and arms.
They put a [gas mask] on me and cut off the air…[and] hung me up by my
hands, which they tied behind my back.”
“They told me they were holding my wife and daughters and threatened to rape
them in front of my eyes.”
The other five defendants also reported that authorities threatened to rape
their wives. Officers also allegedly threatened to rape Mahmudov and
tormented him, describing the various ways in which they would kill him.
Mahmudov’s allegations are consistent with Human Rights Watch’s
documentation of torture methods routinely used by Uzbek authorities.
Persons held incommunicado, as Mahmudov and the other defendants were for
several months, are particularly at risk for abuse. Authorities allegedly
kept Mahmudov in a basement detention cell, the location of which was
unknown even to him, for the first month and a half of his detention.
The state’s case focused on the defendants’ alleged possession and
distribution of Erk (the party’s newspaper), which the prosecutor claimed
contains slanderous criticisms of the President of Uzbekistan, a violation
of the criminal code’s article 158 (3). Erk was the last of the opposition
newspapers to be published in Uzbekistan before it was banned by the
government in 1993. Other charges included conspiracy to overthrow the
government and participation in an illegal or banned organization.
Without access to court documents or the presence of trial observers, it
remains unclear exactly which articles or statements in the paper the court
found objectionable, as do the grounds for the charges. However, the timing
of the charges and the conduct of the case point to political motives.
Uzbek authorities’ conduct of the arrest and trial of the six men violated
domestic criminal procedure and international standards. All were held
incommunicado in Uzbekistan for long periods prior to trial. On the first
day of the hearings, attended by Human Rights Watch before the proceedings
were sealed, the court was forced to postpone the process because the
authorities had not acquainted defendants with the
charges against them. After the trial had already begun, one defendant stood
up and announced that he still was without a lawyer, five months after his
arrest.
Mamadali Mahmudov, 50, wrote The Immortal Cliffs, a novel which helped lay
the foundation for Uzbek national self-awareness in the late Soviet period.
He was twice before arrested on criminal charges in retaliation for his
association with Erk. In 1995 he was sentenced to four years in prison, but
was later amnestied.
Ne’mat Sharipov, the defendant who received the shortest sentence, eight
years, is a businessman who is not a member of Erk and whose only connection
to the opposition party was his alleged transport of several copies of a
book by Muhammad Solih from Ukraine to Uzbekistan.
Four of the men – Muhammad Bekjanov, Iusuf Ruzimuradov, Kobil Diyarov and
Ne’mat Sharipov – were extradited from Ukraine by Uzbek authorities in
March.
For further information, contact Human Rights Watch, 350 Fifth Ave., 34th
Floor, New York NY 10018-3299, U.S.A., tel: +1 212 290 4700, fax: +1 212 736
1300, e-mail: hrwnyc@hrw.org or Human Rights Watch, 1522 K Street, N.W.,
Washington D.C. 20005-1202, U.S.A., tel: +1 202 371 6592, fax: +1 202 371
0124, e-mail: hrwdc@hrw.org, Internet: http:
