Jail for Another Uzbek Rights Activist
Jail for Another Uzbek Rights Activist
Human rights activists in Uzbekistan have raised the alarm over the jailing of their colleague Farhodkhon Mukhtarov, saying the trial was heavily biased.
On October 2, the Yunusabad district criminal court in the Uzbek capital Tashkent sentenced Mukhtarov to five years imprisonment for fraud and bribery.
In his final statement to the court, Mukhtarov, a member of the unregistered Human Rights Alliance of Uzbekistan, said, “This has been ordered from above.”
The activist had monitored trials and acted as a lay “public defender” in court, until spring 2009, when the law was changed to prevent non-lawyers appearing on behalf of defendants.
Mukhtarov was arrested on July 17, after complaining to the prosecution service about the behaviour of police, who had intervened in a property sale.
The prosecution was founded on complaints from three Tashkent residents – Masuda Karimova, Anvar Eshanov and Veronika Bikbulatova – who claimed variously to have lent Mukhtarov substantial sums, or to have paid him for acting as public defender.
As a basis for criminal proceedings, these statements began to crumble. During the investigation, Eshanov and Bikbulatova said they had only made their complaints because they were pressured into doing so. Karimova reportedly told the Human Rights Alliance of Uzbekistan that she had been drawn into the case against her will, but that she was unable to retract her statement.
Human Rights Alliance members who attended the trial said the proceedings were flawed.
For a start, the defence had no opportunity to address the bench or to contest the testimony of the three individual who claimed to have been wronged.
“The trial saw gross violations of the law,” said Oleg Sarapulov, who heads the Human Rights Alliance’s press office. “The judge was not interested in finding out the truth. All petitions [from the defence] were turned down, as were requests to hear an audio CD [as evidence] and bring defence witnesses. Judge Rohatoy Bakieva… gave the defendant no opportunity to respond to the charges and she said she would look at the case without his involvement,”
Rights experts say that the trial violated a basic principle of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – the right to a fair public hearing by an independent and impartial court.
“The trial clearly showed that the judge was biased and that the case had been fabricated in advance.” said Yelena Urlaeva, the head of the Human Rights Alliance.
“Mukhtarov has joined the ranks of convicted innocents,” said Mutabar Tajibaeva, who leads the Fiery Hearts human rights group in Margilan in eastern Uzbekistan, who herself spent three years in prison after being convicted on fabricated charges, and is now receiving medical treatment abroad.
“The Uzbek authorities have convicted numerous independent human rights activists and journalists of fraud or extortion, such as Aghzam Turghunov and Dilmurad Sayid. All these criminal cases resemble one another in that they are all unsupported by any evidence.”
On July 30 this year, Dilmurod Sayid, a reporter and activist of the Ezgulik human rights group, was sentenced to 12 years in prison. In October 2008, Solijon Abdurahmanov, a human rights defender and journalist, was given ten years in jail, and in 2007, Turghunov, head of the Mazlum human rights group got seven years.
On October 2, the Yunusabad district criminal court in the Uzbek capital Tashkent sentenced Mukhtarov to five years imprisonment for fraud and bribery.
In his final statement to the court, Mukhtarov, a member of the unregistered Human Rights Alliance of Uzbekistan, said, “This has been ordered from above.”
The activist had monitored trials and acted as a lay “public defender” in court, until spring 2009, when the law was changed to prevent non-lawyers appearing on behalf of defendants.
Mukhtarov was arrested on July 17, after complaining to the prosecution service about the behaviour of police, who had intervened in a property sale.
The prosecution was founded on complaints from three Tashkent residents – Masuda Karimova, Anvar Eshanov and Veronika Bikbulatova – who claimed variously to have lent Mukhtarov substantial sums, or to have paid him for acting as public defender.
As a basis for criminal proceedings, these statements began to crumble. During the investigation, Eshanov and Bikbulatova said they had only made their complaints because they were pressured into doing so. Karimova reportedly told the Human Rights Alliance of Uzbekistan that she had been drawn into the case against her will, but that she was unable to retract her statement.
Human Rights Alliance members who attended the trial said the proceedings were flawed.
For a start, the defence had no opportunity to address the bench or to contest the testimony of the three individual who claimed to have been wronged.
“The trial saw gross violations of the law,” said Oleg Sarapulov, who heads the Human Rights Alliance’s press office. “The judge was not interested in finding out the truth. All petitions [from the defence] were turned down, as were requests to hear an audio CD [as evidence] and bring defence witnesses. Judge Rohatoy Bakieva… gave the defendant no opportunity to respond to the charges and she said she would look at the case without his involvement,”
Rights experts say that the trial violated a basic principle of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – the right to a fair public hearing by an independent and impartial court.
“The trial clearly showed that the judge was biased and that the case had been fabricated in advance.” said Yelena Urlaeva, the head of the Human Rights Alliance.
“Mukhtarov has joined the ranks of convicted innocents,” said Mutabar Tajibaeva, who leads the Fiery Hearts human rights group in Margilan in eastern Uzbekistan, who herself spent three years in prison after being convicted on fabricated charges, and is now receiving medical treatment abroad.
“The Uzbek authorities have convicted numerous independent human rights activists and journalists of fraud or extortion, such as Aghzam Turghunov and Dilmurad Sayid. All these criminal cases resemble one another in that they are all unsupported by any evidence.”
On July 30 this year, Dilmurod Sayid, a reporter and activist of the Ezgulik human rights group, was sentenced to 12 years in prison. In October 2008, Solijon Abdurahmanov, a human rights defender and journalist, was given ten years in jail, and in 2007, Turghunov, head of the Mazlum human rights group got seven years.
