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| Abdurasul Khudoinazarov |
On 26 June 2014, at about 8 am, 58 years
old activist Abdurasul Khudoinazarov died. He was a chairman of the Angren city
department of Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan "Ezgulik". The main
focus of his work was to protect people from torture and the fight against
corruption in law enforcement agencies.
On 30 May 2014
Abdurasul Khudoinazarov was released from prison. In 2005, charges were
fabricated against him under the Criminal Code of Uzbekistan, Articles 165
(extortion) and 209 (forgery).
Khudoynazarov was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment. It was the authorities' response to his principles.
Khudoynazarov was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment. It was the authorities' response to his principles.
Abdurasul Khudoinazarov was one of the
first to support the sanctions imposed by the European Union against Uzbek
government's refusal to allow an independent international investigation into
the Andijan events (2005), when government forces used firearms against
civilians.
After his release from prison Abdurasul Khudoinazarov
lived with his family only for 25 days. While in custody, he was tortured, he
repeatedly inflicted injuries, including being struck in the region of his
liver; he was starved and had limited access to health care.
As an
outspoken advocate against torture, Khudoinazarov had had a first-hand
experience of the horror of the punitive system of Uzbekistan.
One of his
inmates wrote to us: "Rasul was gentle, kind, responsive and a quiet man.
The prison administration devised frequent provocations against him. As soon as
the representatives of the International Red Cross expressed a desire to meet
with him, he was taken away to the Khavast prison. I will tell you the story.
It was a Saturday, we were being transported
from the Prison UYA64/21 of Bekabad; no explanation provided as to why. We were
put into small vehicle; there were three foreigners, Rasul Khudoinazarov, I and
other two prisoners. All of us were traveling in the same small cabin, under a
lock, the windows were closed, and the heat of 50 degrees. It was summer. We
were all sweating, struggling for air, ahead of us just the door with iron
bars. The car in which we traveling was from the Soviet era, it did not have a
shock absorber and every time it drove through a pot-whole we were thrown to
the ceiling and dropped down dramatically, on top of it, we could not breathe
properly. All this time, we were watched intently by two armed soldiers with
dogs. This is how we travelled from Bekabad to Havast, some 40 kilometres away.
We were met by the prison chief (Major)
Otabek Sadyrov. It had just been 18 days
since he took his new post of Chief of the Prison UYA64/SIZ-13 in Khavast. We
were then registered as in transit so that the Red Cross would not be able to
determine our location.
Rasul and I then spent in Khavast from 22
September until 16 November 2012. And then he was issued two disciplinary
violations and sent to a prison colony.
We were kept in the toughest conditions. We had
to endure not only unsanitary conditions, at times, we were not given food for
two days and then they would give us food with rotten smell ... We were not
allowed to sleep. We were not taken out for a walk. We were constantly under
stress and waiting to die, because we felt completely unprotected, and the
attitude towards us was as to enemies.
Rasul loved his wife and children. He always
thought of them and dreamed that they live in a country where justice is
restored and the children will be happy. He loved life and fought for his life.
"
To the cherished
memory of Abdurasulov Khudoynazarov!
