Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders Annual Report 2007 - Uzbekistan

Political context

In 2007, although the Uzbek authorities continued to implement extremely repressive policies, the European Union (EU) partly lifted, in November 2007, the sanctions against Uzbek leaders that had been decided in 2005 after the Andijan massacre (when hundreds of people were killed), although the authorities had still not carried out an impartial enquiry into the use of force during the event and despite the lack of significant progress regarding the human rights situation in the country. The EU also started a dialogue on human rights with the Uzbek authorities, of which the first phase took place in May 2007. The year ended in Uzbekistan with the re-election of Mr. Islam Karimov, in power since 1989, for a third term in office as President – although the Constitution provides a two-term limit – following an election which observers qualified as "openly non-competitive" and the result of which has not been recognised by the OSCE.¹

Although the abolition of the death penalty, which came into force on January 1, 2008, is an important step forward, very little information is available on the fate of the prisoners formerly condemned to death and whose sentence has been commuted to life imprisonment. The conditions of detention in the Jaslyk penitentiary centre, where the former prisoners condemned to death are emprisonned, are such that they amount to inhuman and degrading treatment. In that respect, in November 2007 the United Nations Committee Against Torture expressed its concern about the numerous allegations of the routine use of torture in Uzbek prisons, the authors of which enjoy total impunity.²

In addition, defenders who denounce human rights violations and criticise publicly the President's authoritarian regime are constantly subjected to acts of psychological harassment and physical violence on the part of the police and agents of the National Security Service (SNB), or groups of violent civilians acting with the consent or at the instigation of the authorities.

Repression against freedom of peaceful assembly

Every demonstration in favour of human rights gave rise to massive and vigorous arrests, followed by questioning accompanied by threats and physical violence, such as for instance the repeated arrests in January and February 2007 of members of the Human Rights Alliance of Uzbekistan.

A civil society muzzled with considerable violence

In Uzbekistan, the repression mainly targeted the men and women who dared to criticise Government policy or investigate human rights violations committed by the Uzbek regime, in particular in relation to the Andijan events, numerous Uzbek defenders being forced into exile. Mr. Kamil Ashurov, a journalist and human rights defender, was attacked by an unknown man on May 18, 2007, because he had dared "criticise the President". The assault was allegedly filmed by SNB agents. In October 2007, Mr. Alisher Saïpov, a journalist who was very critical of the Uzbek Government and who was following with particular attention the Andijan repression case, was assassinated in the street in Och (Kyrgyzstan), where he lived. The act of reprisal is thought to have been committed by the Uzbek security services. Also, on December 8, 2007, Constitution Day, Mr. Yusuf Juma, an Uzbek poet and dissident, who denounced in particular the Andijan massacre and Mr. Saïpov's assassination, went out into the street with a banner calling for the resignation of President Karimov. The following night, Mr. Juma's house was machine-gunned by the special intervention police unit. Mr. Juma and his family had to flee, but on December 13, Mr. Juma and his son Bobur were arrested by the police and placed in the Tashkent temporary detention centre, where they were reportedly subjected to ill-treatment.

In a general way, human rights activities are subjected to a genuine criminalisation. For instance, Ms. Umida Niazova and Ms. Gulbakhor Turaeva were arrested in January 2007 on the Kyrgyzstan frontier, carrying documents on the Andijan events. They were accused of "transporting prohibited documents" (Ms. Niazova was also accused of "illegally crossing the border"); they were sentenced respectively to seven and six years' imprisonment. Thanks to the reaction of the international community, the EU in particular, which was at the time examining the renewal of the sanctions against Uzbekistan, their prison sentences were replaced on appeal by suspended sentences, on condition they plead guilty. In addition, it should be recalled that Ms. Mukhtabar Tojibaeva, president of the Ardent Heart's Club, a human rights organisation based in Margilan, remains detained since October 2005, while her health is constantly declining, in particular due to the harsh conditions of her detention.

Lastly, the authorities also targetted the friends and families of defenders, in order to neutralise them; the method used is often arbitrary detention. For instance, in November 2007, Mr. Ikhtior Khamroev, son of Mr. Bakhtior Khamroev, an Executive of the Djizak section of the Human Rights Society in Uzbekistan (HRSU), who has been detained in a penitentiary centre since August 2006, was subjected to ill-treatment after having refused to admit to having committed a disciplinary offence. His sentence was extended by seven months.

Consequences on the Law on Amnesty for human rights defenders

On November 30, 2007 the Upper Chamber of Parliament adopted a Law on Amnesty, which was published on December 1. According to Article 2, the law is supposed to apply to persons who have committed offences, wittingly or not, which do not endanger public security. Under Article 5, it also applies to persons sentenced for the first time to less than ten years' imprisonment for having belonged to an illegal organisation and/or having developed activities endangering public security, on condition they have expressed the intention to "correct" their ways.

Following the adoption of the Act, numerous defenders in detention were accused by the prison administration of "breaking the rules", clearly in order to exclude them from the amnesty. At the end of 2007, it had only applied to Mr. Karim Bozorboyev, a member of the "Ezgulik" human rights organisation, who had been arrested in October 2007 and sentenced to three years' imprisonment for "financial fraud". As of December 31, 2007, 20 other human rights defenders, including 11 HRSU members, had not been amnestied. However, a few defenders were released early in 2008.

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders is a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH).

1 See ODIHR Press Release on the presidential elections in Uzbekistan, December 23, 2007.

2 See Conclusions and Recommendations of the United Nations Committee Against Torture, 39th session, November 5-23, 2007.