Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to
2025 gvnet.com/torture/Uzbekistan.htm
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CAUTION: The following links
have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Uzbekistan. Some of these links may lead to websites
that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false. No
attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content. HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on
this page and others to see which aspects of Torture by Authorities are of
particular interest to you. You might
be interested in exploring the moral justification for inflicting pain or
inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment in order to obtain critical
information that may save countless lives, or to elicit a confession for a
criminal act, or to punish someone to teach him a lesson outside of the
courtroom. Perhaps your paper might
focus on some of the methods of torture, like fear, extreme temperatures,
starvation, thirst, sleep deprivation, suffocation, or immersion in freezing
water. On the other hand, you might
choose to write about the people acting in an official capacity who
perpetrate such cruelty. There is a
lot to the subject of Torture by Authorities.
Scan other countries as well as this one. Draw comparisons between activity in adjacent
countries and/or regions. Meanwhile,
check out some of the Term-Paper
resources that are available on-line. ***
ARCHIVES *** Uzbek Officers'
Body Cameras Show Disturbing Scenes Of Detention That Turned Deadly Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty RFE/RL Uzbek
Service, 17 September 2021 www.rferl.org/a/uzbekistan-police-death-in-custody/31465184.html?ltflags=mailer [accessed 17 September 2021] Aziz Ahmedov, a 40-year-old tax collector, died after he was
stopped by police in Uzbekistan's Samarkand region. An Interior Ministry statement
attributed his death to a heart attack, but his relatives believe he died as
a result of the police officers' actions. Two officers have now been charged
in the case, one of several recent cases of deaths in police custody in
Uzbekistan. 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Uzbekistan U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 30 March 2021 www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/uzbekistan/
[accessed 11 August
2021] TORTURE AND OTHER
CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT During the year the UN Committee Against Torture concluded “that torture and ill-treatment continue to be routinely committed by, at the instigation of and with the consent of the State party’s law enforcement, investigative and prison officials, principally for the purpose of extracting confessions or information to be used in criminal proceedings.” In addition, a number of criminal trials during which defendants raised torture allegations, as well as several trials of persons charged with committing torture under Article 235 of the criminal code, including the 2018 trial of six National Security Service officers and others charged with torturing Ilhom and Rahim Ibodov, were closed to the public. Court decisions in those cases were not publicly available. PRISON AND DETENTION
CENTER CONDITIONS Prison conditions
were in some circumstances harsh and life threatening due to food shortages,
gross overcrowding, physical abuse, and inadequate sanitary conditions and
medical care. Concluding
observations on the fifth periodic report of Uzbekistan UN High Commissioner
for Human Rights UNHCHR, Human Rights Committee, CCPR/C/UZB/CO/5, 2 April
2020 tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CCPR/Shared%20Documents/UZB/CCPR_C_UZB_CO_5_41917_E.pdf [accessed 12 April
2020] PROHIBITION OF
TORTURE AND ILL-TREATMENT 24.The Committee is concerned about
continued reports of
torture and ill-treatment,including
sexual violence and rape,by prison officialsand law enforcement personnel against persons
deprived of liberty,including individuals detained
on what appear to be politically motivated chargesand at reports
of reprisals against thosewho report
these abuses. It is further concerned at the high level of
impunity that exists in these cases, manifested by the low number of
investigations, prosecutions and convictions under article 235 of the
Criminal Code, and lenient penalties oftenimposed
on perpetrators.While noting the extension of the
Ombudsman’s powers to receive complaints from persons deprived of liberty,
the Committee is concernedat reports that such
complaints are not always reported due to concerns that it is not safe to do
so, and that complaints that are made are not duly and impartially
investigated. It is also
concerned that the
application of penalties
for perjury andfalse denunciation discourages the reporting of
torture and other ill-treatment(arts. 2, 7 and 14). Freedom House
Country Report 2020 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/uzbekistan/freedom-world/2020 [accessed 16 May
2020] F3. IS THERE
PROTECTION FROM THE ILLEGITIMATE USE OF PHYSICAL FORCE AND FREEDOM FROM WAR
AND INSURGENCIES? A 2016 law on police
prohibits torture, and a 2017 presidential decree that bars courts from using
evidence obtained through torture took effect in 2018. Despite the reforms,
reports of physical abuse against detainees remained continued to appear on
social media in 2019. HRW also documented
one case of psychological torture during the year. Former diplomat Kadyr Yusupov was arrested in
late 2018 and was held on trial for treason throughout 2019. According to
HRW, Yusupov was regularly threatened with his
rape, the rape of his wife and daughter, and the arrest of family members by
security personnel for a period spanning from December 2018 to March 2019. Prisons suffer from
severe overcrowding and shortages of food and medicine. As with detained
suspects, prison inmates—particularly those sentenced for their religious
beliefs—are often subjected to torture and other ill-treatment. Jaslyk (Youth) prison, a correctional facility where
torture was especially widespread, was ordered closed by President Mirziyoyev in August 2019. Former Uzbek
Security Officials Sentenced To Prison For Torture Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty RFE/RL, 25 June 2018 www.rferl.org/a/former-uzbek-security-officials-sentenced-to-prison-for-torture/29318120.html [accessed 26 June 2018] Five former senior
security officials in Uzbekistan's Bukhara region have been convicted of torture
and abuse of office and sentenced to lengthy prison terms, a law enforcement
official says. In November 2017, Mirziyoev signed a decree prohibiting the courts from
using evidence obtained through torture, but allegations of torture at the
hands of law enforcement authorities have persisted. Mirziyoev has publicly
criticized the security service, comparing its practices with those of Soviet
dictator Josef Stalin's NKVD during the Great Terror in 1937-38. New Allegations of
Torture Emerge in Journalist’s Case eurasianet, 4 Mar 2018 eurasianet.org/s/uzbekistan-new-allegations-of-torture-emerge-in-journalists-case [accessed 24 March 2018] eurasianet.org/uzbekistan-new-allegations-of-torture-emerge-in-journalists-case [accessed 20 January 2019] Mayorov said Abdullayev informed him that he was tortured in various
ways for several days after he was picked up off the street on September 27. “They beat him on his back, his legs and
along his left arm with a 1-meter-long plastic pipe. The worst torture was
that they forced him to go six days without sleeping. For the entire duration
of the six days, they didn’t allow him to sit or lie down,” Mayorov said. “The third form of torture was beating him
on his back and head with a computer cable. Mayorov noted later in his
statement that Abdullayev said his right arm was
spared so he could use it to sign an eventual confession. Abdullayev was allegedly kept
naked in his cells for several days and kept on suicide watch. “They also
subjected him to psychological torture. They said that his daughter, who
lives in Russia, would be raped, and that his children living here would be
killed. And that they would put his wife in prison too,” Mayorov
said. 'No One Is Safe':
Journalist Says Suicide Better Than Returning To Torture In Uzbekistan Tony Wesolowsky, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty RFE/RL
Russian Service, 23 Feb 2018 [accessed 27 February 2018] "I was
determined not to return to Uzbekistan alive. I'd rather be in pain for half
an hour and die [by suicide] than suffer endlessly as they torture you,"
Nurmatov told RFE/RL. "One does not
die from torture fast there," Nurmatov says.
"They torture and cause pain to a certain point to which you can take
it, then they step back, let you recover a little, and begin torturing again.
It can go on like that forever." Nurmatov describes medieval
methods of torture. "They pull nails, poke needles into your fingers,
they beat you and pour boiling water on you," recounts Nurmatov, whose case to avoid deportation back to
Uzbekistan sparked an international outcry. He says that as he
languished in an immigration center in a Moscow suburb, the idea of committing
suicide remained in the back of his mind. "For half a year, I constantly
kept thinking that something bad was about to happen to me. I was constantly
prepared that I would probably have to make the decision at some point to end
my life." Uzbek President's
Decree Says Evidence Obtained Though Torture Inadmissible Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty RFE/RL, 1 December 2017 www.rferl.org/a/uzbekistan-presidential-decree-evidence-from-torture-inadmissible/28890570.html [accessed 3 December 2017] Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev has issued a
decree emphasizing that evidence obtained under torture is inadmissible in
the Central Asian country's courts. The November 30
decree follows years of international concerns about torture in Uzbekistan
and accusations by rights groups that abuse at the hands of the authorities
is widespread in its police stations, jails, and prisons. The order states
that evidence obtained by investigators through "torture, psychological
and physical pressure and other cruel, inhumane methods that humiliate the
dignity of parties in criminal cases or their close relatives" cannot be
admissible in court. It also says that
information obtained from suspects and defendants in other ways that violate
their rights is inadmissible, and that law enforcement authorities are
obliged to explain people's rights to them when involving them in a criminal
case. Human rights
activists’ dismay as Uzbekistan autocrat clings to power Alec Luhn, The Observer, Moscow, 4 April 2015 www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/04/uzbekistan-islam-karimov-fourth-term-corruption [accessed 13 April
2015] A Human Rights
Watch report published last September highlighted the extent of the regime’s
crackdowns on the political opposition, Muslims and street protesters.
According to the report, an estimated 10,000 to 12,000 political opponents
have been imprisoned. Of 34 prisoners profiled in detail by Human Rights
Watch, 29 have made credible allegations of torture or ill-treatment,
including beatings, electric shocks, hangings from wrists and ankles and
meagre allowances of food and water. In the past, some prisoners have even
reportedly been boiled alive. Torture
and death for Uzbek Muslims in jail Mansur Mirovalev, Al Jazeera Media Network, Tashkent, 07 Jan
2015 www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2015/01/torture-death-uzbek-muslims-jail-201516102547473124.html [accessed 24 March
2015] After 2005 revolt
against President Karimov's iron-fisted rule,
crackdown against Muslims continues unabated. What was not mentioned
was the men were severely tortured while in detention, according to a report
by the Association for Human Rights in Central Asia, or AHRCA. They were beaten
with rubber clubs, electrocuted, and starved for up to six days, said the
report citing information from the defendants' families. They had
state-appointed lawyers who ignored their pleas, knew about the torture, but
never requested medical expertise. About 12,500
political prisoners in Uzbekistan - more than in the Soviet gulags at the
height of the Cold War - are subjected to systematic torture: asphyxiation,
electrocution, and beatings, human rights groups, former inmates, and
researchers say. "Torture is a
very widespread practise in Uzbekistan," said Atayeva. "Cruel treatment is simply standard." Human
Rights Watch World Report 2015 - Events of 2014 Human Rights Watch,
29 January 2015 www.hrw.org/world-report/2015/...
or
www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/wr2015_web.pdf [accessed 18 March
2015] UZBEKISTAN CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND
TORTURE
- In November 2013, the United Nations Committee against Torture stated that
torture is “systematic,” “unpunished,” and “encouraged” by law enforcement
officers in Uzbekistan’s police stations, prisons, and detention facilities
run by the SNB. Methods include beating with batons and plastic bottles,
hanging by wrists and ankles, rape, and sexual humiliation. Although
authorities introduced habeas corpus in 2008, there has been no perceptible reduction
in the use of torture in pretrial custody or enhanced due process for
detainees. Authorities routinely deny detainees and prisoners access to
counsel, and the state-controlled bar association has disbarred lawyers that
take on politically sensitive cases. Uzbekistan: Prison,
Torture for Critics Human Rights Watch,
Warsaw, 26 Sept 2014 www.hrw.org/news/2014/09/25/uzbekistan-prison-torture-critics [accessed 17
November 2014] At least 29 of the
34 current prisoners whose cases Human Rights Watch documented have made
credible allegations of torture or ill-treatment. They have been beaten with
rubber truncheons or plastic bottles filled with water and tortured with
electric shock, hanging by wrists and ankles, threats of rape and sexual
humiliation, asphyxiation with plastic bags and gas masks, threats of
physical harm to relatives, and denial of food or water. Azam Farmonov, a rights activist behind bars since 2006,
alleges that police placed a sealed mask on his head to simulate suffocation
and beat him on his legs and feet to force a false confession. He said that
during pretrial custody, he had been beaten on the head with plastic bottles
filled with water and that Uzbek security services officers threatened to
drive nails into his toes, as well as to harm his loved ones. Following the
torture he suffered, according to his wife, Farmonov
said to her at his trial, “I will hold out until the very end.” Until the Very End Human Rights Watch
Report, Until the Very End, 26 Sept
2014 www.hrw.org/node/129142/section/1 [accessed 17
November 2014] I. Politically
Motivated Imprisonment in Context: 25 Years
of Repression II. Profiles of
Individuals Imprisoned on Politically Motivated Charges III. Prison Abuses
and the Arbitrary Extension of
Sentences IV. International
Responses to Uzbekistan’s Policy of Politically Motivated Imprisonment UN Committee Against
Torture does not believe Uzbekistan Uznews.net, 19
December 2013 www.uznews.net/news_single.php?lng=en&sub=&cid=31&nid=24711 [accessed 19 Dec
2013] www.facebook.com/english.uznews.net/posts/617732048286691 [accessed 9 August
2017] Experts from the UN
Committee Against Torture once again state that torture is systematic and is
unpunished in Uzbekistan and called on the country to bring those responsible
to justice. The Committee
expressed concern about the wide-spread use of torture in Uzbekistan by law
enforcement in order to obtain confessions. Even though
Uzbekistan is not a party to the European Court of Human Rights, the
Committee reminded Uzbek officials that the European Court established in
2011 that the use of “torture and ill-treatment of prisoners in Uzbekistan is
systematic, unpunished, and encouraged by law enforcement.” Uzbekistan: Free
Political Prisoners, End Torture -- UN Body Condemns Imprisonment and Alleged
Torture of Rights Defenders Human Rights Watch,
Berlin, 6 December 2013 www.hrw.org/news/2013/12/06/uzbekistan-free-political-prisoners-end-torture [accessed 7 Dec
2013] The committee further
expressed concern that “human rights defenders that have been deprived of
their liberty have been subjected to torture and other ill-treatment.” One
such case is Azam Formonov,
a well-known rights activist, who has been imprisoned at Uzbekistan’s Jaslyk prison colony since 2006. Formonov’s
lawyer and relatives told Human Rights Watch that he was tortured frequently
both during pretrial custody in 2006 and then in the first years of serving
his criminal sentence, including being stripped of his overclothing,
handcuffed, and left in an unheated punishment cell for 23 days in January
2008, when temperatures reached approximately -20 degrees Celsius. In 2011 he
was bound and beaten for refusing to write a document denying that he had
ever been tortured. Additionally, he was repeatedly transferred back and
forth to Nukus prison when prison authorities learned that representatives of
the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) were about to visit Jaslyk. Torture rife in
Uzbekistan, U.N. watchdog says Stephanie Nebehay, Reuters, Geneva, 22 November 2013 www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/22/us-uzbekistan-torture-idUSBRE9AL0K020131122 [accessed 25 March
2014] Torture is rife in
prisons and police stations in Uzbekistan, where activists are rounded up and
routinely mistreated in a crackdown on dissent, the U.N. torture watchdog
said on Friday. It cited
"numerous, ongoing and consistent allegations" that detainees in
the ex-Soviet state were tortured, including by beatings, rape and sexual
violence, to extract confessions.
Some alleged abuses had resulted in deaths in custody, the U.N.
Committee against Torture said.
Indeed when it comes to practicising
torture, Uzbekistan represents one of countries where torture occurs
systematically, and sometimes in the worst forms," George Tugushi, an expert from Georgia on the committee, told a
news briefing. "What we've
seen has been a crackdown across the board. Not just punishment of people and
continuing use of torture, but actually punishment of those who even report
about torture to committees like our own," said Felice Gaer, an American expert who serves as its vice
chairwoman. In 2007, when it last
examined Uzbekistan's record, a group of non-governmental organizations had
attended, she said. "They were largely
Uzbek. They lined the room, they brought us documentation, they
brought us cases. "When we
reviewed Uzbekistan (this time), we didn't have a single Uzbek NGO present.
And in fact, this was because some of these people had been imprisoned,"
she added, mentioning Azam Formonov,
Gaibullo Jalilov, Dilmurod Saidov from a long
list. 'Uzbeks tortured
me,' says British Embassy man Jonathan Owen &
James Hanning, The Independent, 30 June 2013 www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/uzbeks-tortured-me-says-british-embassy-man-8679979.html [accessed 30 June
2013] Kayum Ortikov, 44, a married father of four who worked for the
British government as a security guard, ended up in a dungeon in Tashkent
after being arrested on charges of "human trafficking". It appears
the extent of his "crime" was trying to help arrange visas for some
relatives to work in Russia. Mr Ortikov claims that his refusal to become an informant
for Uzbekistan's secret police led to torture sessions in which he was
accused of spying for the British. In the months after
his arrest in December 2008, he says he was hung from the ceiling and beaten,
left naked in a freezing room, and burnt on his genitals with a newspaper
which had been set alight. Conclusions and
recommendations of the Committee against Torture U.N. Convention
against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment -- Doc. CAT/C/UZB/CO/3
(2007) www1.umn.edu/humanrts/cat/observations/uzbekistan2007.html [accessed 12 March
2013] Widespread torture
and ill-treatment 6. The Committee is
concerned at the a) Numerous,
ongoing and consistent allegations concerning routine use of torture and
other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment committed by law enforcement
and investigative personnel or with their instigation or consent, often to
extract confessions or information to be used in criminal proceedings; b) Credible reports
that such acts commonly occur before formal charges are made, and during
pre-trial detention, when the detainee is deprived of fundamental safeguards,
in particular access to legal counsel. This situation is exacerbated by the
reported use of internal regulations which in practice permit procedures
contrary to published laws; c) Failure to
conduct prompt and impartial investigations into such allegations of breaches
of the Convention; and d) Allegations that
persons held as witnesses are also subjected to intimidation and coercive
interrogation and in some cases reprisals. Conditions of
detention 9. While the
Committee appreciates the information from the State party regarding surveys
of detainee opinions regarding detention facilities, the Committee remains
concerned that despite the reported improvements, there are numerous reports
of abuses in custody, and many deaths, some of which are alleged to have
followed torture or ill-treatment. Furthermore, only some of these have been
followed by independent autopsies, and such investigations have not become a
regular practice. The Committee is also aware of the concerns raised by the
Special Rapporteur on torture regarding Jaslyk
detention facility, whose isolated location creates conditions of detention
reportedly amounting to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment
for both its inmates and their relatives. Independent
monitoring of places of detention 11. While noting
the State party’s affirmation that all places of detention are monitored by
independent national and international organizations without any restrictions
and that they would welcome further inspections including by the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Committee remains
concerned at information received indicating that acceptable terms of access
to detainees was absent, causing, inter alia, the ICRC to cease prison visits
in 2004. Fully independent
complaints mechanism 13. Notwithstanding
the bodies established by the State parties to investigate complaints, such
as through instruction 334 of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and special
staff inspection units and the Parliamentary Ombudsperson, the Committee is
concerned that these bodies have not been effective in combating torture and
lack full independence. The Committee expresses concern that despite the
State party’s report of thousands of cases registered annually about alleged
abuses by law enforcement personnel, and the Ombudsperson’s visits to places
of detention, she has stated that no appeals regarding torture were received
and no reason provided. Closure of human
rights and other independent organizations 14. The Committee
is concerned at the information received about the intimidation, restrictions
and imprisonment of members of human rights monitoring organizations, human
rights defenders and other civil society groups and the closing down of
numerous national and international organizations, particularly since May
2005. The Committee appreciates the information that Mutabar
Tojibayava is eligible for amnesty, but remains
concerned at the reports of ill-treatment and denial of fundamental
safeguards regarding her trial and those of other civil society advocates and
detainees. Evidence obtained
through torture 18. While
appreciating the frank acknowledgement by the representatives of the State
party that confessions under torture have been used as a form of evidence in
some proceedings, and notwithstanding the Supreme Court’s actions to prohibit
the admissibility of such evidence, the Committee remains concerned that the
principle of non-admissibility of such evidence is not being respected in
every instance. Human Rights in
Uzbekistan Human Rights Watch www.hrw.org/node/104570 [accessed 17
February 2013] www.hrw.org/europe/central-asia/uzbekistan# [accessed 17
February 2013] Uzbekistan’s human rights
record is atrocious. Torture is endemic in the criminal justice system.
Authorities intensified their crackdown on civil society activists,
opposition members, and journalists. Muslims and Christians who practice
their religion outside strict state controls are persecuted, and freedom of
expression is severely limited. The government forces more than one million
adults and children to harvest cotton under abusive conditions. AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL From an old article -- URL not available Article was
published sometime prior to 2015 TORTURE AND OTHER
ILL-TREATMENT
- Torture and other ill-treatment of detainees and prisoners by security
forces and prison personnel continued to be routine. Scores of reports of
torture and other ill-treatment emerged during the year, especially from men
and women suspected or convicted of belonging to Islamic movements and
Islamist groups and parties or other religious groups, banned in Uzbekistan.
As in previous years, the authorities failed to conduct prompt, thorough, and
impartial investigations into such reports and into complaints lodged with
the Prosecutor General’s Office. In August,
Jehovah’s Witness Gulchehra Abdullaeva
reported that she had been tortured at a police station in the town of Hazorasp, to make her confess to smuggling banned
religious literature into Uzbekistan, a charge she denied. Police officers
arbitrarily detained her in July after she returned from a trip to
Kazakhstan. She said that they forced her to stand for hours without food or
water, placed a gas mask over her head and cut off the air supply to
suffocate her. She was made to sign a statement admitting to participating in
proscribed religious activities and was then released. On 28 July she was
convicted by the Hazorasp District Court of
“teaching religious beliefs privately”, and fined. Gulchehra
Abdullaeva appealed against her sentence and lodged
official complaints with the authorities but officials refused to respond or
address her complaints. ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Freedom House
Country Report - Political Rights: 7 Civil Liberties: 7 Status: Not Free 2009 Edition www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2009/uzbekistan [accessed 17
February 2013] LONG
URL ç 2009 Country Reports begin on Page 21 [accessed 13 May
2020] Police routinely
abuse and torture suspects to extract confessions, which are accepted by
judges as evidence and often serve as the basis for convictions. A 2007
report by Human Rights Watch described torture as “endemic” to the criminal
justice system. Prisons suffer from
severe overcrowding and shortages of food and medicine. As with detained
suspects, prison inmates—particularly those sentenced for their religious
beliefs—are often subjected to abuse or torture, and Human Rights Watch has
documented a number of torture-related deaths in custody during the last few
years. Mutabar Tojiboyeva,
a rights activist released in 2008 after several years behind bars, described
prisons as “islands of torture.” Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61684.htm [accessed 17
February 2013] 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61684.htm [accessed 7 July
2019] TORTURE
AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT – Although the law
prohibits such practices, police and the NSS routinely tortured, beat, and otherwise
mistreated detainees to obtain confessions or incriminating information.
Police, prison officials, and the NSS allegedly used suffocation, electric
shock, deprivation of food and water, and sexual abuse, with beating the most
commonly reported method of abuse. Torture and abuse were common in prisons,
pretrial facilities, and local police and security service precincts. Several
cases of medical abuse were reported, including forced psychiatric treatment
on political grounds and alleged sterilization of women without notification
or medical need. Defendants in trials often claimed that their confessions,
on which the prosecution based its cases, were extracted as a result of
torture (see section 1.e.). A 2003 UN Special Rapporteur on Torture report concluded
torture and abuse was systematic throughout the investigative process. During
the year the government took a few steps towards reform confined to education
and outreach, while in large part it showed little will to address UN
conclusions. The office of the prosecutor general blocked a Ministry of
Interior (MVD) initiative to create an independent body to investigate the
most serious allegations of physical abuse by officials. During the year
government officials confirmed that prison regulations permit beatings under
the supervision of medical doctors, and prison authorities document all such
incidents in detail for prison records. Judges rarely pursued allegations of
torture. Authorities treated
individuals suspected of extreme Islamist political sympathies, particularly
alleged members of HT, more harshly than ordinary criminals. There were
credible reports that investigators subjected pretrial detainees suspected to
be HT members to particularly severe interrogation. After trial, authorities
reportedly used disciplinary and punitive measures, including torture, more
often with prisoners convicted of extremism than with ordinary inmates. Local
human rights workers reported that common criminals were often paid or
otherwise induced by authorities to beat HT members. As in previous years
there were numerous credible reports that officials in several prisons abused
HT members to obtain letters of repentance, which are required for a prisoner
to be eligible for amnesty. According to prisoners' relatives, amnestied
prisoners, and human rights activists, inmates who refused to write letters
disavowing their connection to HT were often beaten or sent into solitary
confinement. During the year inmates and a guard at one prison corroborated
reports that prison guards systematically beat suspected HT members following
the March and April 2004 terrorist attacks. In February two
Sufi Muslims claimed authorities tortured them while in detention (see
section 2.c.). In a February trial in Tashkent of six defendants charged with
terrorism in connection with the March and April 2004 terrorist bombings and
the July 2004 suicide bombings in Tashkent, one defendant testified that he
had been beaten repeatedly while in custody (see section 1.e.). In June MVD
officers allegedly subjected Yakubjon Aliev to repeated severe beatings during interrogation. Aliev was under arrest on charges that included religious
extremism and anticonstitutional activity. On July
18, Aliev's lawyer protested this treatment in
writing to the office of the prosecutor general. At year's end the government
had not taken action on the case. The death
certificate of Shavkat Madumarov,
who died in prison on September 14, reported the cause of his death as HIV
and anemia, but his family alleged authorities subjected him to debilitating
torture during interrogation and in prison. The family reported government
officials delivered Madumarov's body to their home
in a sealed casket, monitored the funeral, and warned the family not to open
the casket, or they would face prosecution. The government did not allow an
independent investigation into the case. During the year
outside monitors, including the International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC), were unable to gain access to visit the Tashkent MVD, where in 2004
eyewitnesses, family members, defense attorneys, and representatives of human
rights groups claimed authorities frequently and systematically applied
torture following the March and April 2004 terrorist attacks. All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT
ARTICLES. Cite this
webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, "Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance
& Other Ill Treatment in the early years of the 21st Century-
Uzbekistan", http://gvnet.com/torture/Uzbekistan.htm, [accessed
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