Uzbekistan: An appeal against the sentence in the case of Murat Juraev is rejected

On 3 January the appeal of the prisoner Murad Juraev was considered. He was sentenced to 3 years and 24 days of imprisonment on 4 December 2012. This is the fifth consecutive conviction added to his main term. The last sentence was upheld.

 

          Murad Juraev was born in 1952 in the town of Mubarak of Kashkadarya Region. He is ethnic Turkmen, married and has three children. He graduated from the Tashkent Polytechnic Institute. Between 1989 and 1992 he worked as the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the City Council of the town of Mubarek. Between 1991-1992 he was a Member of Parliament of Uzbekistan.
         He was accused of conspiring with the leader of the opposition political party "Erk" Muhammad Salih. According to the authorities, they wanted to organise a violent seizure of power. Murad Juraev has been in prison since 18 September 1994.

 

On 3 January 2013, at 11:30 AM, the Tashkent Regional Criminal Court considered the appeal of political prisoner Murad Juraev submitted to the Court on 14 December 2012.

 

As a background, on 4 December 2012 Murad Juraev was sentenced to three years and 24 days of imprisonment under Article 221 part 2, paragraph "b" of the Criminal Code of Uzbekistan “Disobedience to lawful demands of the administration of penal institutions.” This is his fourth conviction under a similar article of the Criminal Code and the fifth addition to his main term of imprisonment.

 

Juraev is held at Tashkent prison. His defence team is preparing a complaint to the Supreme Court of Uzbekistan.

          • The Appeal Commission

The Appeal Commission did not take into account the objections of the defence on four episodes, on which the verdict in the criminal case № 1-554/12 is based. The prosecution qualified Murad Juraev’s behaviour as disobedience of legitimate demands of the administration of prison UA 64/45, located near the town of Almalyk of Tashkent Region. Neither the Court took into account the state of health of the prisoner Jurayev, nor applied the amnesty of December 2012, issued by the Senate of Uzbekistan for the 20th anniversary of the Constitution of Uzbekistan.

         • The case of Murad Juraev

On 31 May 1995 Murad Juraev was sentenced to 12 years of imprisonment to be served in a maximum security penal colony and confiscation of his property. On the basis of the amnesty, the sentence was reduced by three years.

 

Shortly before the end of his term on 27 July 2004 Juraev was convicted, on trumped-up charges under Article 221 of the Criminal Code of Uzbekistan, “Disobedience to lawful demands of the administration of penal institutions”, to three more years in prison. The same thing happened on 27 July 2006, as his last term of the sentence was about to expire they added three years sentence under article 221 of the Criminal Code of Uzbekistan. On 31 May 2009 under the same Article the sentence was again extended for three years and four months. Among other reasons, there is a punishment for the fact that he "improperly pilled carrots", while working in the kitchen. On 13 November 2012 fourth sentence of imprisonment expired.
 

On 4 December 2012 Murad Juraev was convicted again - for three years and 24 days of imprisonment under article 221 of the Criminal Code of Uzbekistan.

 

Previous publications on this case:
         - Press Release «Uzbekistan: Murad Juraev is sentenced to another term of imprisonment of three years 24 days» dated 16 December 2012;
         - Press Release «Uzbekistan: Ailing political prisoner Murad Juraev is again placed in solitary confinement» dated 14 October 2012;
         - Press Release «It is not possible to find out the location of political prisoner Murad Juraev for the last four months» dated 17September 2009;