Uzbekistan: Conscript Asadbek Fayzullayev died in suspicious circumstances

Asadbek Fayzullayev, a 20-year-old conscript, died in July 2021 while doing military service at an army unit near the city of Termez in southern Uzbekistan on the border with Afghanistan. The authorities claim that he drowned in the Amuzang Channel in Termez District, but his parents and the man who prepared Asadbek’s body for burial  saw fractures, injuries and bruises on his body which were ignored in the forensic examination conducted after his death.

Association for Human Rights in Central Asia (AHRCA) and International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR) are concerned at allegations that Asadbek Fayzullayev had suffered severe physical abuse before he died and that army officers have covered up the circumstances of his death. The organizations call on the Uzbekistani authorities to promptly open an effective investigation into the circumstances of Asadbek’s death and the origin of his fractures and injuries, exhume his body, conduct a thorough forensic medical examination, and bring to justice anyone suspected of being responsible for his death and for covering up the circumstances of his death.

Asadbek was drafted into the army in March 2021. He served in military unit no. 9221 in Termez. Asadbek told his mother during visits that several officers were subjecting him to beatings and other forms of hazing and urged her to ask an influential person in their home town to intervene.

On 26 July 2021, Asadbek’s mother received an SMS from an officer from his unit, saying that Asadbek had left the unit to fetch water and has not returned. The next day she and Asadbek’s younger brother drove to Termez, which is located some 500 kilometres south of their home city of Djizak. When they arrived, military officers said they had still not found Asadbek and took them to a hotel in the city. The next morning, on 28 July, three guards who had been stationed outside their room during the night, told the mother and her younger son to go with them. Some ten minutes later an officer reportedly called Asadbek’s mother and told her that his body had been found in the Amuzang Channel.

Asadbek’s mother insisted on seeing her son’s body. Some 15 military personnel stood around the body on the bank of the Amuzang Channel and reportedly tried to prevent her from inspecting it closely. Asadbek was wearing trousers, boots and a watch, information which appears to contradict the version of events subsequently issued by the military that Asadbek and a fellow-soldier had gone to collect water and decided to go for a swim to cool off in the summer heat. Asadbek’s mother, a former surgical nurse, saw dried blood coming from his mouth; a rib on his left side that appeared to be broken and pointing upwards; that his jaw was bruised on the right side and appeared to be dislocated. She took photos and a short video – which the organizations issuing this document have seen - before the military men took the body away for the autopsy.

Later, on 28 July, Asadbek’s mother and brother went to Sukhardarya Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Termez to file a complaint and request an investigation into the circumstances of her son’s death. She also informed the prosecutor’s office that Asadbek had been subjected to hazing and beating at the military unit. Subsequently, the family sent petitions to the Military Prosecutor’s Office and to the Prosecutor General’s Office, urging them to investigate the circumstances of Asadbek’s death.

On 28 July, Asadbek’s body was transferred to his home town of Djizak for burial. Asadbek’s father arrived in Djizak on 29 July from Moscow, where he had been working. He told AHRCA that by the time he arrived it was almost impossible to recognize Asadbek. His body had been wrapped in cellophane, although it was over 40 degrees Celsius in Djizak. There are allegations that this was done to speed up decomposition and make Asadbek’s injuries less visible.

The man who prepared the body for burial told Asadbek’s father that he found Asadbek’s left hand had been cut in half; with three fingers broken on his right hand; the back of his head had an open wound and his hands and legs were bruised.

On 24 August, Asadbek’s parents went to the Military Prosecutor’s Office in Termez where they were reportedly shown the autopsy document for the first time which concluded that Asadbek drowned and had alcohol in his blood. There was no reference to the fractures and injuries on his body.

On 30 August, the Termez Military Prosecutor’s Office turned down the family’s request to open an investigation into Asadbek’s death, stating that he had drowned and there was no evidence of a crime. Asadbek’s parents continued lodging complaints and calling for an exhumation, but to no avail.

 

Uzbekistan: Prisoner Kadyr Yusupov transferred to an open prison colony

Association for Human Rights in Central Asia (AHRCA) and International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR) welcome the news that the Uzbekistani authorities have finally responded favourably to Kadyr Yusupov’s repeated requests to be moved to an open prison colony. However, we continue to call for his immediate release, in line with the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention’s (UN WGAD)conclusion issued in May 2021. The WGAD found Yusupov’s detention to be arbitrary and called on the authorities to release him immediately, conduct an investigation into the violation of his rights, and provide him with compensation and reparation.

In the morning of 9 December 2021, Kadyr Yusupov was called to the head of Prison Colony No. 4 in the city of Navoi, in southwest Uzbekistan, and told that he would be transferred to a so-called open prison colony, a facility with a less strict prison regime where he can receive an unlimited number of visits. Yusupov was given a few minutes to collect his belongings, then two prison officers accompanied him to the open prison facility (No. 42) in the Zangiata district of Tashkent region.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

In January 2020, the Military Court of Uzbekistan sentenced Kadyr Yusupov, a former diplomat to Austria, the United Kingdom and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, to five and a half years’ imprisonment for treason (Article 157 of the Criminal Code) in a closed trial that fell short of international fair trial standards. The case against Yusupov appears to be 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 brain trauma and clearly confused, Yusupov reportedly said that he had been a spy for the West. Kadyr Yusupov has been detained since December 2018. The former diplomat maintains his innocence.

There are credible allegations that state security officers repeatedly threatened Yusupov in pre-trial detention saying that he, his wife and daughter would be raped unless he confessed to the accusations. Yusupov was also denied essential medication and treatment. He filed complaints about the treatment with relevant government agencies. On 3 June 2019, the Prosecutor General’s Office responded that they did not find any evidence of abuse. There are allegations that the investigation was not conducted thoroughly and impartially. In September and October 2021, Yusupov was reportedly beaten by fellow prisoners in Prison Colony No. 4 in Navoi. On 6 December 2021, Yusupov’s lawyer lodged a new complaint with the Prosecutor General’s Office calling for an investigation into the allegations originating during pre-trial detention and the recent beatings.

On 3 May 2021, the UN WGAD concluded that Yusupov’s detention is arbitrary and called on the authorities of Uzbekistan to release him immediately and provide him with adequate compensation. The working group also raised serious concerns about violations of the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules), including the use of prolonged solitary confinement, “deplorable” prison conditions and denial of access to medication and treatment. Other UN bodies and procedures had also raised concern about Yusupov’s case, e.g., the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and the UN Special Rapporteur on health in a joint letter in July 2019, the UN Committee against Torture in its concluding observations adopted in November 2019 and during discussions at the UN Human Rights Committee review in March 2020.