Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders Annual Report 2005 - Uzbekistan

Arbitrary arrests and detentions and violent acts against defenders during the events of Andijan⁶⁵

Following the events of Andijan in May 2005,⁶⁶ numerous human rights defenders, who had denounced the disproportionate use of force against the demonstrators, were arbitrarily arrested, detained and subjected to ill-treatments. In addition, all the human rights organisations in the city were accused of supporting the Akromists, an Islamic movement opposed to the government, and judicial proceedings were initiated against the directors of a great number of these organisations.

Arbitrary detention of Messrs. Saidjahon Zaynabitdinov, Nurmuhammad Azizov and Akbarali Oripov

On 21 May 2005, Mr. Saidjahon Zaynabitdinov, president of the human rights organisation Appeliatsia (Appeal), based in Andijan, was arrested and secretly detained after having denounced the events of Andijan and made statements to the international media. He was accused of [making] "a slur on the President of the Republic", "infringing the constitutional order of the Republic of Uzbekistan", "organising illegal public or religious assemblies", "fabricating or disseminating material constituting a threat to security and public order" under Articles 159, 216 and 244 of the Criminal Code, and of "creating, administrating and participating in an extremist religious organisation, or separatist, fundamentalist or other illegal organisations" under Article 244.2 of the Criminal Code. Since his incarceration in Tashkent prison, where he was still being held at the end of 2005, Mr. Zaynabitdinov has not been allowed to meet neither his lawyers nor members of his family.

At the first hearing of his trial that started on 11 January 2006, in camera, Mr. Zaynabitdinov was sentenced to seven years of imprisonment by the Tashkent Court.

On 2 June 2005, Mr. Nurmuhammad Azizov, chairman of the section of the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan (HRSU) in Andijan, and Mr. Akbarali Oripov, a member of the human rights organisation Ezgulik, were arrested during searches of their homes by agents of the Ministry of the Interior of Markhamat in the Andijan region. Mr. Azizov was charged with "a slur on the President of the Republic", "infringement of the constitutional order", "fabrication and dissemination of material constituting a threat to public order and security" and "organisation of illegal public or religious assemblies".

By the end of 2005, both men were still detained in Tashkent prison.

Harassment and ill-treatment of several dozens of human rights defenders

– On 22 May 2005, Mr. Sobithon Ustabaev, a member of the Namangan Group for the Protection of Human Rights, was arrested and sentenced to 15 days' imprisonment under the Uzbek administrative Code, after taking part in a peaceful demonstration against the events of Andijan. He was released after serving his term, and found refuge abroad.

– On the same day, a group of seventy people, under the orders of Mr. Ubdibulla Yamankulov, head of the Administration of the Djizak region, broke into the home of Mr. Bakhtior Kamroev, president of the Djizak section of HRSU. He and other members of his family were beaten, threatened with death and insulted.

– Some days later, Mr. Ulugbek Bakirov and Mr. Fazleddin Gafurov, Ezgulik members, were beaten and harassed by law enforcement officers in Andijan, while they were interviewing witnesses of the Andijan events.

– On 28 May 2005, Mr. Dilmurad Muhitdinov, president of the Markhamat section of Ezgulik, Mr. Muhammadkodir Otahonov, an Ezgulik member, and Mr. Mussajon Bobojanov, an Ezgulik member and chairman of the local organisation of the political party Birlik, were arrested. Their computers, CDs and other documents were seized.

– During the night of 29 to 30 May 2005, twelve members of Ezgulik from various regions were arrested at the home of Mr. Hussan Yussupov, also a member of Ezgulik, in Tashkent. Some of them were beaten and then sent back home by force. Afterwards, Mrs. Vassila Inoiatova, Ezgulik president, her husband and Mr. Hussan Yussupov were arrested and taken to the regional centre of the Ministry of the Interior in Sobir-Rakhimovskii. They were released on 30 May 2005.

– On 30 May 2005, Messrs. Vakhid Karimov and Ilkhom Ashurov, members of the Centre of Humanitarian Law, were detained for three hours in Bukhar. Their papers were confiscated and they were made to sign a document prohibiting them from leaving the city.

– On the same day, Mr. Sotivoldi Abdullaev, a HRSU member, was beaten by law enforcement officers outside his house in Tashkent, and had to spend fifteen days in hospital. In addition, Mr. Iskandar Khudaiberganov, president of the Centre of Democratic Initiatives, Mrs. Bashorat Eshova, a HRSU member, and Mr. Azam Turgunov, president of the human rights NGO Mazlum, were detained for several hours, while other human rights defenders were prevented by the police from leaving their homes.

– On 2 June 2005, Mr. Muzaffarmirzi Iskhakov, president of Ezgulik for the Andijan region, was arrested in this city and detained for several hours. Documents containing information on human rights defenders, the programme and charter of the Birlik political party, and several computers belonging to the Andijan section of Ezgulik were seized in his home. He was released on bail on 6 June 2005, but his papers were confiscated and, by the end of 2005, he was still prohibited from leaving the city.

– On 4 June 2005, in Mytan, law enforcement officers in the province of Samarkand arrested Messrs. Abdusattor Irzaev and Khabibulla Okpulatov, members of the Ishtikhanskii district section of HRSU, as well as Mr. Norboy Kholjigitov, HRSU president for this district. The three men were charged with "extortion" and detained at the security services base in Samarkand. Messrs. Irzaev and Okpulatov were released on 30 June 2005. On 13 June 2005, Mr. Khabibulla Okpulatov's son, Mr. Youldash Okpulatov, was subjected to intimidation and threats. Mr. Aslitdin Suvankulov, a lawyer for Mr. Kholjigitov, was attacked after saying he would act as his defence lawyer. On 18 October 2005, the Samarkand Regional Criminal Court sentenced Mr. Norboy Kholjigitov to ten years' imprisonment and Messrs. Okpulatov and Irzaev to six years' imprisonment. By the end of 2005, a lawsuit initiated against Mr. Khayatulla Kholjigitov, the son of Mr. Norboy Kholjigitov and a HRSU member, was still in progress.

– On 4 June 2005, Mr. Tulkin Karaev, a HRSU member and an independent journalist working for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR), was arrested and put under administrative detention for "hooliganism". He was released on 14 June 2005. On 16 June 2005, Mr. Karaev was again arrested and questioned, as well as Mr. Akmal Akhmedov, a journalist and member of the Initiative Group for Independent Defenders of Uzbekistan. Though he was released shortly afterwards, his passport was confiscated and he was prohibited from leaving the city. Mr. Karaev was granted political refugee status abroad.

– On 21 June 2005, Messrs. Sotivoldi Abdullaev and Abdudjalin Vaimatov, a HRSU member, were prevented from taking part in a demonstration to commemorate the victims of the "tragedy of Andijan" in Tashkent. Furthermore, about twenty people were arrested and detained at the police station.

Arbitrary detention of and judicial proceedings against Mrs. Mukhtabar Tojibaeva

On 13 May 2005, Mrs. Mukhtabar Tojibaeva, chairwoman of the Ardent Hearts' Club, a human rights organisation based in Margilan, in the Fergana valley, was prevented from leaving her home by several police officers. Later in the day, agents from the antiterrorism department of the Ministry of Interior took her to the police station where she was detained until 16 May 2005, without her arrest being officially recorded.

In August 2005, the law and order forces again prevented Mrs. Tojibaeva from visiting Namagan, where she had to work.

On 7 October 2005, Mrs. Tojibaeva was arrested at home. While she was to attend the Third Platform on Human Rights Defenders organised by the NGO Frontline in Dublin (Republic of Ireland), sixteen officers from the Department of Home Affairs, including some in masks and carrying wide bore rifles, broke into her home and searched the premises. They removed a computer and several documents. Mrs. Tojibaeva was then arrested and charged with "extortion" under Article 165.2b of the Criminal Code, in connection with a dispute with one of her employees to whom she had lent a large sum of money that was to be repaid to her. It was when this employee visited Mrs. Tojibaeva's home and gave her some of the money that the law and order forces burst in. Earlier that day, at a press conference organised by the Fergana centre, she announced that she was being followed.

On 24 December 2005, fourteen other charges were filed against Mrs. Tojibaeva.

Arbitrary arrest and forced medical treatment of Mrs. Elena Urlaeva⁶⁷

In March 2005, Mrs. Elena Urlaeva, president of the Organisation for the Defence of Rights and Freedoms of Citizens of Uzbekistan and a member of the opposition party Ozod Dehkonlar, discovered that her name appeared on a "black list", which was published by Mr. Safar Abdullaev, an independent journalist, and which anticipated various types of punishment for 65 persons, political activists and human rights defenders (being sent to a prison colony or psychiatric hospital, receiving an intravenous injection of the "lupus" virus etc.). The names of Mrs. Nozima Kamalova, director of the NGO Legal Aid Society (LAS), and Mrs. Mukhtabar Tojibaeva⁶⁸ were also on the list.

On 27 June 2005, in Tashkent, three members of the security forces visited the home of Mrs. Elena Urlaeva, where she was with Mr. Rakhmatulla Alibaev, a member of the Initiative Group for Independent Defenders of Uzbekistan. Mrs. Urlaeva was beaten and taken away by the security forces, while Mr. Alibaev was taken to an unknown location. The following day, Mrs. Urlaeva was fined after appearing in the offices of the Ministry of Interior to ask for the release of Mr. Alibaev. On this occasion, three men belonging to the Ministry beat her again and threatened her family.

On 28 August 2005, Mrs. Elena Urlaeva was arrested and detained in the psychiatric hospital in Tashkent. On 21 October 2005, she was forced to take a medical treatment for schizophrenia, which could have incurable consequences for her future health. She was released from the hospital at the end of October 2005.

Finally, on 4 January 2006, Mrs. Urlaeva was arrested briefly while demonstrating against the detention of Mrs. Nadira Hidoyatova, coordinator of the opposition party Solar Coalition.

Threats and ill-treatment of Mrs. Urshida Togaeva⁶⁹

On 21 September 2005, an unknown person visited the home of Mrs. Urshida Togaeva, a HRSU member, on three occasions, asking her son where she was. When her son replied that she was away on a business trip, the man pronounced threats against her.

On 23 September 2005, two unknown persons began to watch her home.

The following day, while she was visiting her daughter, these men followed her and hit her in the stomach, threatening her and her family with death. Mrs. Togaeva lost consciousness and was hospitalised on 26 September 2005, where she remained in a coma for three days.

Reprisals against Mr. Tolib Yakubov and murder of his nephew⁷⁰

The persecution of Mr. Tolib Yakubov, HRSU president, continued in 2005. These reprisals increased sharply at the end of the year, particularly aimed at members of his family: on 5 November 2005, the apartment of his son-in-law, Mr. Azamzhon Farmanov, was ransacked and then set on fire, in Gulistan.

On the next day, the body of his nephew was discovered, chopped to pieces, in Djizak.

By the end of 2005, Mr. Yakubov was still being constantly followed by several men everywhere he was going.

Arbitrary arrest and detention of Mr. Abdurasul Hudainazarov⁷¹

On 21 July 2005, Mr. Abdurasul Hudainazarov, president of the Angren section of Ezgulik, was arrested in Korabog, as part of a criminal investigation conducted by the office of the Public Prosecutor of the city.

On 24 July 2005, he was charged with extorting 400 US dollars from Mr. Ilhom Zokirov, a police captain, and placed in detention. A resident of Angren, from whom Captain Zokirov had extracted this sum in exchange for his silence about an alleged theft of livestock, had approached Mr. Hudainazarov to get the money back from the captain. Mr. Hudainazarov had then contacted the police officer. However, immediately after Captain Zokirov returned the money to Mr. Hudainazarov, the police arrived and arrested him.

By the end of 2005, the date of his trial had not been set yet.

Dismantling of Internews Network and judicial proceedings against its members⁷²

On 4 August 2005, Mrs. Khalida Anarbayeva, former managing director of the representative office of Internews Network, an international organisation that protects the freedom of the press and access to information, and Mrs. Olga Narmuradova, accountant, were charged with violating Article 190.2.b of the Uzbek Criminal Code with regard to the "publication of information and production of unauthorised videos". When the verdict was announced, the judge declared that Internews had "started meddling in the politics of Uzbekistan".

On 6 September 2005, the appeal lodged by Mrs. Narmuradova was rejected by the Court of Tashkent, for lack of valid grounds. However, Mrs. Anarbayeva and Mrs. Narmuradova were granted a presidential amnesty and, for this reason, did not serve their sentences.

In addition, on 9 September 2005, the Court of Appeal in Tashkent ordered the dismantling of the Uzbek branch of the organisation, alleging that it had been carrying out activities without the necessary authorisation, and that it had used the logo of the association without the consent of the Ministry of Justice.

On 11 October 2005, the Tashkent Court of Appeal rejected Internews Network's appeal without explanation.

The organisation had to publish this judicial decision within two months in the newspapers, and to settle its debts as soon as possible. However, as the organisation's assets had been frozen in August 2004, it found it impossible to pay the required sum.

Judicial proceedings against LAS⁷³

At the beginning of 2005, the Ministry of Justice refused to acknowledge the annual report of the Legal Aid Society (LAS), without giving any reason, although the submission of this report is obligatory and a necessary condition for the organisations to keep their legal status. The representatives of the Ministry also added that their services were intended to monitor the activities and administrative documents of the organisation, to check their legality. After this examination, the city Justice Department raised some minor points, claiming that LAS had violated the law on NGOs.

On 26 December 2005, Mr. Alisher Ergashov, LAS lawyer, was summoned to the city Justice Department, where he was informed that the first hearing against the organisation would take place on 27 December 2005.

In addition, the organisation found it impossible to legally occupy any premises due to the legislation in force that prevents NGOs from accessing their bank accounts without official authorisation.

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[Refworld note: This report as posted on the FIDH website (www.fidh.org) was in pdf format with country chapters run together by region. Footnote numbers have been retained here, so do not necessarily begin at 1.]

65. See Urgent Appeals UZB 001/0505/OBS 036, 036.1 and 036.2.

66. See above.

67. See Annual Report 2002 and Urgent Appeal UZB 001/0505/OBS 036.2.

68. See above.

69. See Urgent Appeal UZB 004/1005/OBS 091.

70. See Annual Report 2004.

71. See Urgent Appeal UZB 002/0805/OBS 063.

72. See Urgent Appeals UZB 003/0805/OBS 066 and 066.1.

73. See Legal Aid Society (LAS).