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| John Kerry |
In recent days, some human rights activists and the media attributed a
huge role in the release of a political prisoner, a former deputy of the Parliament
of Uzbekistan Murad Djuraev, whom we congratulate on this long-awaited event, to
the US Secretary of State John Kerry.
HRSU Ezgulik and journalists of Radio Liberty linked Murad Djuraev’s
release from the jail to a visit of the US Secretary of State Mr. Kerry. I had a feeling of great injustice, because the
date of his release was known as early as October 2015. An employee of the prison administration told
Juraev’s wife to come and collect him on 12 November. However, he set a condition: to keep quiet
about it. On a condition of great secrecy, human rights defenders learned about
the date of Murat Djuraev’s release a month before the visit of John Kerry. I do
not agree with those who called Murad Djuraev’s release a humanitarian act
either.
Unfortunately, the former Member of Parliament Murat Djuraev had to spend
21 years in custody serving five terms of imprisonment, four of which were
extended on absurd charges: "for pealing carrots not properly",
"for wearing the wrong shoes in the barracks where the prisoners' slept” and
so on.
It is worth mentioning that the public learned about John Kerry’s visit
to the Central Asia only a few days before it actually took place. Moreover, it was announced only after
numerous requests of human rights defenders.
Uzbekistan has the largest number of political prisoners in the former
Soviet region. Systematic defeat of the
human rights movement and systemic persecution of independent journalists have
been continuing since 2005. Therefore, members of the community of activists remaining
free have a well-founded fear of arrests or compulsory treatment in a
psychiatric clinic. In these
circumstances, a small group of brave men and women continue to monitor human
rights, despite the fact that the government officials organise arsons of their
homes, frequently invade their private space and restrict their freedom of
movement. Since 2004, the work of
independent civil society activists in Uzbekistan cannot be legally funded.
Then Mr Kerry visited the country.
We all were anticipating that it would give a chance to the release imprisoned
civil society activists, that the Secretary of State would certainly raise the
issue of accreditation of HRW. We also had
no doubt that John Kerry would not leave the human rights activists and
journalists without a moral support, that at least one of his assistants would
meet with them.
However, Mr Kerry met only with the dictator Karimov behind closed
doors. According to official Tashkent, a
meeting with civil society activists took place in Samarkand. But who are these
activists and what was discussed during this meeting is unknown. Does this mean that Secretary Kerry is now meeting
the activists behind closed doors too?
During his visit, Mr Kerry treated Karimov with surprising sentimentality
and did not publicly support the community of activists who are persecuted for
their work. He did not mention the name
of even a single Uzbek political prisoner.
Following the meeting, the social networks and the media reported only
enthusiastic statements of Mr Kerry about Samarkand and the results of
negotiations with Mr Karimov. What has
so impressed Secretary of State is unknown.
One of the most shameful moments of the visit of John Kerry was when his
security personnel pushed an American journalist Carol Morello who asked questions
about human rights out of the room. All
subsequent apologies of Mr Kerry’s assistants did not matter: we saw how the US
Secretary of State, in the presence of the dictator who ordered to shoot his
own people in Andijan, allowed to disrespect a reporter of a reputable American
newspaper Washington Post.
Who in recent years sought the release of Murat Djuraev? Very many people.
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| Murat Djuraev |
Since May 2015, on the basis of regular requests of human rights organisations:
Amnesty International, ACAT- France, IPHR, HRW, AHRCA, Freedom House, UGF, HRSU
Ezgulik and many others, members of the Sub-Committee on Human Rights of the
European Parliament and many diplomats of EU countries and the United States
raised the issue before the Uzbek government about the case of Murad
Djuraev. (Sorry if I left anyone out.) Monitoring
of the case of Murad Djuraev has been constantly carried out for the last 4
years, starting with a visit of then EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs
Catherine Ashton to Uzbekistan in 2012.
At a meeting with human rights activists, she promised that she would continuously
monitor the cases of prisoners: Murad Djuraev, Muhammad Bekjan, Isroil Holdarov,
Azam Farmonov and others.
Since then, they received new sentences under Article 221 of the Criminal
Code of Uzbekistan "Disobedience to Legitimate Orders of the Administration
of Penal Institutions." However, Ms Ashton did not notice it.
At almost all meetings of the EU in the framework of the Dialogue on
Human Rights, the issue of political prisoners was raised. Murad Juraev’s name has always been in this
list, because he has broken all records in terms of imprisonment and the
severity of conditions of detention.
He held out owing to his wife Holbike Djuraeva, who continued to support
him over the years. After her visit to the colony, she would come to her friend
Dilorom Iskhakova’s house. When Dilorom asked
"How are you?" she broke down into tears and hysteria and they had to
call an ambulance to calm her down. I
once heard her bitter complaints over the telephone. Dilorom Iskhakov continued to support this family
all these years. At the European Union and the United Nations meetings, she
tearfully told about the fate of Murat Juraev and asked to save him. Alongside her,
Jodgor Obid, Ismail Dadajanov, Muhammad Salikh, Talib Yakubov and Pulat
Akhunov kept Murad Djuraev’s case constantly in the public view. Each of them
wrote and spoke about him, because they knew him personally.
During these 21 years, Murad Djuraev has become a symbol of civil society. At the meetings within the framework of human
rights dialogues, the diplomats mentioned his name with great caution, because
the dictator Karimov declared him a personal enemy. The Secretary Kerry also decided not to mention
Juraev’s name publicly. It is a shame, because any public mention of political
prisoners gives moral support not only to them but also to those who are
seeking their freedom.
The Committee for Human Rights, at it the 114th session of July 2015,
repeatedly mentioned the names of Murad Djuraev, Muhammad Bekjan, Azam Farmonov,
Dilmurad Saiyd, Fakhriddin Tillaev, Nuriddin Dzhumaniyazov and many
others. And the members of the Uzbek
delegation clearly felt that we all take a great interest in the fate of these
people, because they continue to protect the fundamental principles of human
rights and freedoms even if they are in prison.
Every day we receive disturbing reports from Uzbekistan about human
rights defenders who are risking their lives in order to circulate the
information that the Uzbek authorities want to hide from the international
community. It is very important that the
representatives of the democratic community pay them attention and give a moral
support.
Murad Djuraev is already with his family.
It will take a long time to restore his health. There are still many political prisoners
remaining in custody. Among them, there are disabled, seriously ill and elderly
people. Will their fate be discussed in November during the forthcoming
dialogue on human rights in the European Union?
After all, these dialogues have been held for many years, also without
the participation of civil society activists and behind closed doors.
In fact, it is important that the public knows what issues are discussed
during these meetings. Citizens of Uzbekistan have the right to know: whether
the issue of resuming the mission of the International Committee of the Red
Cross in Uzbekistan on program of visits to persons held in custody will be
solved, whether the observations of the Committee against Torture are adhered
to, when Uzbekistan will allow UN Special Rapporteurs, whether the restrictions
on the supply of all forms of military assistance and sanctions against those
involved in crimes against humanity
will be imposed.
On 13 November, the US Department of State, in a brief press release,
welcomed the release of Murat Juraev.
Indeed, this is an important event in the history of the development of
civil society in Uzbekistan. It is
equally important that there is a US Senator called Benjamin Cardin. He has the time and desire to express his concerns
about the fate of Uzbek political prisoners at every opportunity, without
looking back at the dictator Islam Karimov.
Nadejda Atayeva,
A citizen of Uzbekistan