Uzbekistan: Eighth time lucky?

 

Human Rights House to apply for official registration again

Later in June 2021 Agzam Turgunov, human rights defender and former political prisoner, and his colleagues will submit an application to register their human rights organization for the eighth time since February 2019. The applicants have diligently addressed all concerns raised by the Ministry of Justice and have engaged a lawyer to assist them. Other independent civil society groups have also had multiple applications for registration rejected on spurious grounds.

The government of Uzbekistan publicly claimed in February 2021 that there are over 10,500 civil society organizations in the country, but closer examination of these statistics reveals that the majority of them are in fact organisations that are not independent from the government.

In May 2020 the United Nations Human Rights Committee raised concern at “the small number of independent self-initiated NGOs registered in the State party, the high number of rejections for registration”.

“The authorities of Uzbekistan are clearly dragging their feet and searching for small technicalities to prevent independent human rights organizations from registering. Until such groups are able to register and allowed to monitor and document the human rights situation any talk of reform in Uzbekistan is meaningless,” said Brigitte Dufour, Director of International Partnership for Human Rights.

On 4 March 2021, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev approved the “Concept on Development of Civil Society in 2021-2025” and a Road Map for its implementation, setting out measures to address various issues important to civil society organisations, including the legal framework, partnership with state structures, state support, and civil society oversight of state bodies’ activities. However, the Concept fails to address an issue of central importance for independent civil society groups in Uzbekistan, namely the clarification of procedures and criteria that apply when registering NGOs.

The Ministry of Justice’s grounds for rejecting the applications by Agzam Turgunov and his colleagues were often unclear or unsubstantiated indicating that they were refused on politically motivated grounds. For example, the Ministry stated that the applicants had failed to:

    — Number and stitch the pages of the charter correctly (rejection no. 2 in June 2019, and no. 6 in October 2020. Turgunov and his lawyer refute this and say the charter was presented correctly.

    — Pay a fee for the consideration of the registration documents equivalent to the amount of four minimum wages (rejection no. 2). However, when the founders submitted the documents, the employee of the Ministry of Justice who checked them had told them that everything was in order and assured them that the fee could be paid later and they would be informed in good time.

    — Pay the appropriate fee for registering the organization (rejection no. 3 in August 2019). This time the group paid the fee as advised in the previous rejection, but now the Ministry’s rejection letter pointed out that the fee was higher -12.5 minimum wages – for groups that intend to not only operate within Uzbekistan. There was in fact an error in the Charter as the lawyer’s secretary wrote “in other countries” instead of “in other regions”.

    — State where the group would conduct its activities and name the governing body submitting the application (rejection no. 3). These claims are inaccurate as the documents had been prepared by the lawyer and the Charter referred to NGO branches in four regions of the country.

     — Abide by the Law on non-governmental non-profit organizations1 in connection with the group’s founding meeting, but no details were given (rejection no. 4 in March 2020).

Submit the application in line with online registration procedures in place during the coronavirus pandemic (rejection no. 5 in July 2020). However, details about the procedure were not publicly available and requests by the group for clarification had gone unanswered.

    — Attach the confirmation of payment of the registration fee (rejection no. 6 in October 2020). An employee of the Ministry of Justice had told Turgunov that the receipt of payment was valid for three months and therefore he did not pay a new fee.

    — Meet the requirement of Article 17 “Charter of a non-governmental non-profit organization” of the Law “On non-governmental non-profit organizations”2 which requires NGOs and its sub-divisions to demonstrate the availability of sufficient funds (rejection no. 6). However, the founders of the organization had set up a fund (with donations from founders and supporters) of the amount of an equivalent to 3,000 USD to cover the required costs for two staff and office rent for a year, as required by law.

In the seventh and most recent rejection letter dated 7 January 2021 the Ministry of Justice claimed that Human Rights House had not sufficiently regulated the management of funds by the organization and its sub-divisions, and that it had failed to list its sources of funding. The Ministry’s letter provides no evidence for these conclusions. Agzam Turgunov and lawyer Sergey Mayorov maintain that they provided the requested information in the registration request.

Agzam Turgunov lodged the first three NGO applications under the name “Restoration of Justice” together with further founding members including human rights defenders Dilmurod Saidov, Azam Farmonov and Abdusaid Musayev. After the third refusal to register the group, these founding members left the organization and the others decided to rename the NGO to Human Rights House (or Inson Kukuқlari uyi in Uzbek or Дом прав человека in Russian).

Agzam Turgunov, the head of Human Rights House, and lawyer Sergey Mayorov reported that they met representatives of the Ministry of Justice on several occasions including the Minister of Justice Ruslan Davletov to discuss how to obtain registration.

“Since Shavkat Mirziyoyev became President, I have noticed that the State Security Services are still interested in me, and so I asked the Minister of Justice Ruslan Davletov directly if this interest had influenced the decision to refuse to register the NGO. I found it amusing that he tried to dissuade me from registering and strongly recommended that I join the already registered Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan ‘Ezgulik’, saying that then it would be easier for me to protect human rights, which sounds strange when coming from the Minister of Justice”, Agzam Turgunov stated in January 2021.

After the seventh rejection by the Ministry of Justice, Agzam Turgunov has been searching several months for a guarantor willing to provide office premises – which is a prerequisite for registration. The previous guarantor, who provided a letter of guarantee for all the previous applications, stated that the State Security Services urged him to withdraw his support to Turgunov. Additionally, the founders of Human Rights House reported that each of them was visited by an officer from the State Security Services in order to verify the authenticity of their signatures in the application documents. Agzam Turgunov is also preparing documents to appeal the series of refusals to court, as he is afraid that the Ministry of Justice will again refuse to register.

“We see that public organizations are registered in Uzbekistan on a selective basis and that human rights defenders are still under the control of the special services, just like during the reign of dictator Islam Karimov. The lack of opportunities for the legalization of independent human rights organizations makes us question the authentic nature of the legal reforms announced by President Mirziyoyev in 2017”, notes Nadejda Atayeva, President of the Association for Human Rights in Central Asia (AHRCA).

We call on the Uzbekistani authorities to simplify the registration procedures for independent civil society organizations, to increase the transparency of the process, provide support and advice for citizens trying to register organisations, and welcome a constructively critical dialogue between civil society and the state as a key precondition for achieving meaningful improvement in practice of the human rights situation in the country.

Uzbekistan: NGOs join the UN WGAD in calling for the immediate release of former diplomat Kadyr Yusupov

On 31 May 2021, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UN WGAD) informed the applicant of its conclusions that the detention of 69-year-old Kadyrjan (further Kadyr) Yusupov is arbitrary. It called on the authorities of Uzbekistan to release him immediately and provide him with adequate compensation.

Concerned about Yusupov’s continued imprisonment, Association for Human Rights in Central Asia (AHRCA), International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR), Norwegian Helsinki Committee (NHC), Polish Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, Freedom Now and the World Organization against Torture (OMCT) join these calls and urge the Uzbekistani authorities to ensure their swift implementation.

Former diplomat to Austria, the United Kingdom and Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Kadyr Yusupov, who has been imprisoned since December 2018, suffers from serious heart disease and mental illness, and is being held in Prison Colony No. 4 in the city of Navoi in conditions of detention which pose a threat to his health and life.

 

“This news gives me great hope to save my father, who needs constant care and attention due to his poor health,” says Babur Yusupov, son of Kadyr Yusupov. “I immediately reported the WGAD decision to his lawyer in Uzbekistan so that he would promptly inform my father, but the prison administration refused him access”.

 

Kadyr Yusupov was sentenced to five and a half years’ imprisonment in January 2020, after the Military Court of Uzbekistan found him guilty of treason under Article 157 of the Criminal Code in a trial that fell short of international standards of fairness. Yusupov maintains his innocence. The case against him is reportedly based on a statement he made during a psychotic episode in December 2018, when he was being treated by medical personnel following a failed suicide attempt in the Tashkent metro. Whilst in hospital, suffering from concussion and clearly confused, Yusupov reportedly said that he had been a spy for the West.

    

After his arrest on 10 December 2018, Yusupov was held for over a year in pre-trial detention, during which time law enforcement officers subjected him to ill-treatment, including psychological torture and threats of rape and reprisals against him and members of his family. He was not allowed to see a lawyer for over five months, and among other things, authorities withheld necessary medication which he requires for his long-term mental illness. On 5 July 2019, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health and the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, requested the Uzbekistani authorities to provide information about the case and to take all necessary interim measures to halt the alleged violations and prevent their re-occurrence.

    

“The conclusion of the UN working group that Yusupov has been arbitrarily detained since December 2018 deserves serious attention and we join its calls to release Yusupov immediately. Our concerns are heightened by the fact that his treatment in detention is alarming and poses a threat to his health and life,” said Brigitte Dufour, director of IPHR.

   

Conditions of detention

 

On 26 April 2020, the Head of Prison Colony No. 4 gathered a group of around 80 prisoners together including Yusupov and asked if they had any complaints. Yusupov replied that the wages for prisoners’ labour at the brick factory were insufficient at the equivalent of under USD 0.15 per day, and that prisoners wishing to observe Ramadan were not allowed to do so. The head of the prison colony then reportedly shouted and swore at Yusupov, saying

   

“I am the boss in this ‘zone’ [prison colony], and while I am here, there will be no praying and fasting. I will break you. I have broken others much stronger than you. You will keep your mouth shut, or I will sew it shut”.

   

Shortly afterwards the prison administration moved Yusupov to a punishment cell containing two other prisoners. The next day, he announced a hunger strike. On the third day of his hunger strike, Yusupov was moved to a solitary prison cell 1.5 x 2 meters containing a metal chair, metal bed with a torn, lice-infested mattress and an open toilet. During the day the mattress was taken away from him to prevent him from lying down. The cell was reportedly infested with insects, including small scorpions and snakes and the light was too dim to read by. Yusupov was held in these conditions for 14 days.

     

The prison authorities alleged that Yusupov was placed in solitary confinement because he had broken prison rules. They reportedly put pressure on other prisoners to testify against him and reportedly backdated their report to 26 or 27 April – the date when Yusupov’s punishment began.

     

Upon his release from solitary confinement, Yusupov told his children that his mental and physical health had severely suffered. In October 2020, Yusupov’s request to be relocated to an open prison that allows prisoners to leave the facility during the day and return for the night was denied, on the stated grounds that he has a record of bad behaviour.

      

In February 2021, Kadyr Yusupov was punished for violating prison rules and therefore was again not transferred to a colony-settlement where conditions are better than in Colony No. 4 where he is currently being held. This is a common practice in relation to prisoners investigated by the State Security Service (SSS), which inherited the activities of the National Security Service under the leadership of Rustam Inoyatov, the current Presidential Adviser for the Control of Law Enforcement Agencies.

  

International concern about unfair trial, torture and ill-treatment

   

In January 2020 the UN Committee against Torture stated in its Concluding Observations following the Committee’s review of Uzbekistan’s implementation of the country’s international human rights obligations that

                                     

“The case of Kadyr Yusupov illustrates how safeguards were absent leading to inadequate legal defence or lack of access to attorney and relatives.”

  

In addition, the UN Committee requested Uzbekistan to provide, by 6 December 2020, follow-up information on actions taken to investigate allegations of torture and ill-treatment committed in December 2018 in relation to Kadyr Yusupov, prosecute the perpetrators and ensure redress. The Uzbekistani government replied merely restating events and failed to provide any details about investigations into the torture allegations.

     

“If the Uzbekistani authorities are serious about reform, they should ensure compliance with the absolute prohibition of torture as a number one priority. They must investigate the allegations of torture of Kadyr Yusupov, and all other cases of torture effectively and make the results public,” said Geir Hønneland, Secretary General of the NHC.

    

Geoffrey Robertson, Queen’s Councel (senior barrister) who brought the case to the WGAD on behalf of Yusupov and his family, said:

 

“This is a most damning criticism of a country that is pretending to the West that it respects the rule of law but is in reality allowing its secret police and its judges to behave brutally. The conduct of its security police was disgusting as they tried to force a confession from a man recovering from a mental breakdown and then for five months denied him all contact with his family and his lawyer of choice. The judges behaved like legal lickspittles, refusing to investigate the torture to which he had been subjected. On these findings, the prosecutor general should resign as he is clearly guilty of dereliction of duty.”

 

 

Uzbekistan: authorities must investigate allegations of torture against Alexander Trofimov

 

                                 Photo: Galia Trofimova (mother), Alexander Trofimov 

International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR) and the Association for Human Rights in Central Asia (AHRCA) are concerned about recent allegations that Alexander Trofimov, 29-year-old father of two, who is registered as disabled, was tortured by police on 6 and 7 May 2021 while being detained at Chilanzar District Police Directorate in the capital city of Tashkent without contact with the outside world. We urge the authorities of Uzbekistan to promptly conduct an effective investigation into these allegations, publish the results and ensure that those reasonably suspected of being responsible are brought to justice.

On 6 May, Trofimov was arrested on suspicion of stealing money from Food Optimal Group in Tashkent (Article 169 of the Criminal Code of Uzbekistan). He was taken to Chilanzar District Police Directorate in Tashkent City (RUVD – Russian acronym), where his detention was registered at 4:30 am before being transferred to Chilanzar Police Station (GOM-8 – Russian acronym). Trofimov’s mother’s mobile phone records show that her son called her from GOM-8 on 6 May at 6:55 am. She took him food at 8:00 am and saw him in person, he was healthy. At around 9:00 or 10:00 she was present when Trofimov, along with other suspects in the case, was transferred from GOM-8 back to Chilanzar ROVD accompanied by officers of the Chilanzar District Criminal Investigation Directorate. At 00:24 am on 7 May, Trofimov called his mother twice from a cell in the Chilanzar ROVD asking her to bring food and a change of clothes. She took the clothes to the police station, but was not allowed to see her son. Later, she learned that he had already been subjected to torture. 

According to Trofimov, he was subjected to police abuse several times  between 10:00 am on 6 and 11:00 pm on 7 May. In the duty office at Chilanzar District Police Directorate four or five police officers kicked Trofimov, hit him with truncheons and punched him on the head, body and legs. They reportedly then forced him to do the splits,  pressing him to the floor and officers took turns to sit on him,  jump on his back and hit him on the back while his hands were handcuffed. During this beating, Trofimov begged not to be hit on the head, explaining that he had sustained a skull fracture in 2002. Despite this, RUVD officers hit him on the site of the injury. At some point some police officers (Trofimov could not say how many) put a plastic bag over his head and continued beating him. Police allegedly told Trofimov that if he confessed to theft he would be released. They also threatened him with additional violence if he told his lawyer that he had been tortured or ill-treated. 

Two suspects in the same case have confirmed to witnessing Trofimov being tortured while they were also being held in the RUVD, and that they were warned they would be tortured if they did not confess.  

AHRCA and IPHR are additionally concerned at reports that law enforcement officials falsified detention records in order to conceal acts of torture that took place on 6 and 7 May. The detention register of Chilanzar RUVD records the time of Trofimov’s detention as 6 May 2021 at 4:30 am. However, during the remand hearing on 8 May, Chilanzar Criminal Court only referred to the investigation files of the RUVD which state that Trofimov’s detention began on 7 May 2021 at 11.00 pm. Additionally, in a violation of procedural regulations which state that investigating officers cannot fulfill the role of accompanying detainees during transfer – but in this case RUVD officials were present with the suspects continually, in an attempt to prevent them from speaking out. 

Trofimov was not allowed to see a lawyer for the first 48 hours after his arrest, and instead was repeatedly told that he would be released very soon. Reportedly, a RUVD representative also told Trofimov’s mother that he did not need a lawyer as he would be imminently released. It was only on 8 May, shortly before the remand hearing began, that lawyer Hakim Saparov was able to meet with his client. The lawyer took a photo of a large bruise on Tofimov’s leg allegedly sustained as a result of beatings during the interrogation. During the hearing Hakim Saparov told the judge that his client was subjected to torture and requested that a medical forensic examination be carried out. The judge refused to grant this motion.    Only on 10 May was Trofimov transferred to a medical centre for examination. To date, the results of this examination have not been made available to Trofimov's lawyer or relatives. 

On 12 May, Tashkent City Criminal Court turned down Trofimov’s petition against being remanded in custody pending trial. 

Trofimov's mother has sent several complaints to relevant authorities requesting an investigation into the allegations of torture of her son, including to the Prosecutor of Chilanzar District; the Prosecutor of Tashkent City; the Prosecutor General; the President of Uzbekistan; the Ministry of Justice and the Inspectorate of the Main Department of Internal Affairs of Tashkent. A complaint was also sent to the Office of the Ombudsperson for Human Rights. 

At the time of writing, nearly one month after the events, the Uzbekistani authorities have not investigated these serious allegations of torture. 

Since President Mirziyoyev came to power, the authorities of Uzbekistan have taken some steps to address the endemic problem of torture in the country. Legislation was adopted stipulating that evidence obtained under torture is not admissible in court and to improve transparency in the criminal justice system. However, in the case of Aleksander Trofimov judges, prosecutors, and interrogators failed to respect the provisions of Article 26 of the Constitution and Article 17 of the Criminal Procedural Code which forbid torture. The fact that IPHR and AHRCA continue to receive allegations of torture and ill-treatment on a regular basis indicates that sustained change is still to be achieved. 

Recommendations

We urge the Uzbekistani authorities to: 

a) conduct a prompt, thorough, impartial and independent investigation into the allegations of torture of Aleksander Trofimov, to publish the findings and to bring anyone suspected of being responsible to justice. 

b) launch an investigation to establish responsibility of officials for failing to ensure that Trofimov has access to all legal safeguards aimed at preventing torture in detention; 

c) ensure that all evidence extracted under torture is excluded from the case against Trofimov; 

d) ensure the implementation in practice of the National Strategy on Human Rights of the Republic of Uzbekistan, according to which the state undertakes to ensure that representatives of state authorities who are involved in torture are brought to account. 

e) swiftly establish a rapid reaction mechanism for cases where there are allegations of torture, involving a 24-hour hotline, independent experts and independent representatives of civil society.