Uzbekistan: Independently-Minded Lawyers Stripped of Licenses
Uzbekistan: Independently-Minded Lawyers Stripped of Licenses
The suicide of a lawyer in Uzbekistan has shocked colleagues who also face losing their licenses to operate, in what rights activists see as a deliberate policy of disbarring anyone who defends dissidents.
Sayid Vohidov, 62, killed himself by drinking concentrated acetic acid in public in the western city of Bukhara after learning that the Ministry of Justice had turned down his application for a license. News of his death was reported by the Voice of Freedom website on July 29.
Under new government regulations issued in March, practicing lawyers are required to sit examinations in order to continue working. Some 30 per cent are believed to have failed and been disqualified.
Vohidov’s death has shaken the legal community, which was already alarmed by the tough new rules.
Clearly alarmed at the implication that Vohidov’s death was a direct result of reforms that amount to a purge, the Uzbek authorities denied that Vohidov committed suicide.
An official from the Bukhara regional justice department said the lawyer died of “a heart attack caused by excessive consumption of alcohol”, according to the 12.uz news portal, quoted by Voice of Freedom on August 7.
The regulations governing lawyers are based on legislative amendments passed in December. As well as requiring lawyers to undergo testing, it imposes controls on the way they practice, such as their interaction with the courts.
Human rights defenders say the testing and licensing process has been misused to disbar lawyers who have taken on political cases involving rights activists, journalists, dissidents and individuals accused of Islamic extremism.
The casualties include prominent Tashkent lawyers Ruhiddin Komilov and Rustam Tulyaganov, who have acted in the past for human rights activists Mutabar Tajibayeva and Aghzam Turghunov, journalists Solijon Abdurahmonov and Dilmurod Sayid, and dissident poet Yusuf Juma.
“This reform has produced a situation where the best lawyers have been sidelined, and members of the public have been deprived of their right to choose a lawyer freely,” said Surat Ikramov, a lawyer who heads the Initiative Group of Independent Rights Defenders, based in Tashkent.
Komilov, one of those disbarred, says the authorities are trying to take over the legal profession and purge it of courageous defence advocates.
“Who will defend journalists and human rights activists now?” he asked.
Tashpulat Sayidov, head of the official Chamber of Lawyers, says the changes are designed to improve the quality of legal services in Uzbekistan and insists there is no subtext to the reforms.
“We need to be informed what our lawyers are doing and what cases they have been working on during the period under review,” he said. “That will help us track and disseminate best practice.”
The new regulations also changed the way lawyers constitute themselves as a body. The Chamber of Lawyers was established in May 2008, and all practicing lawyers in Uzbekistan are required to be members. It replaced the Association of Lawyers, which was more independent of government.
Whereas the old association elected its chair and deputy chair, these posts are now appointed by the justice ministry.
Lawyers in private practice are unhappy at being shoehorned into a quasi-state institution.
“Mandatory membership of the chamber is entirely unwarranted, and contradicts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which says membership of public associations should be voluntary,” said Komilov.
(NBCentralAsia is an IWPR-funded project to create a multilingual news analysis and comment service for Central Asia, drawing on the expertise of a broad range of political observers across the region. The project ran from August 2006 to September 2007, covering all five regional states. With new funding, the service has resumed, covering Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.)
Sayid Vohidov, 62, killed himself by drinking concentrated acetic acid in public in the western city of Bukhara after learning that the Ministry of Justice had turned down his application for a license. News of his death was reported by the Voice of Freedom website on July 29.
Under new government regulations issued in March, practicing lawyers are required to sit examinations in order to continue working. Some 30 per cent are believed to have failed and been disqualified.
Vohidov’s death has shaken the legal community, which was already alarmed by the tough new rules.
Clearly alarmed at the implication that Vohidov’s death was a direct result of reforms that amount to a purge, the Uzbek authorities denied that Vohidov committed suicide.
An official from the Bukhara regional justice department said the lawyer died of “a heart attack caused by excessive consumption of alcohol”, according to the 12.uz news portal, quoted by Voice of Freedom on August 7.
The regulations governing lawyers are based on legislative amendments passed in December. As well as requiring lawyers to undergo testing, it imposes controls on the way they practice, such as their interaction with the courts.
Human rights defenders say the testing and licensing process has been misused to disbar lawyers who have taken on political cases involving rights activists, journalists, dissidents and individuals accused of Islamic extremism.
The casualties include prominent Tashkent lawyers Ruhiddin Komilov and Rustam Tulyaganov, who have acted in the past for human rights activists Mutabar Tajibayeva and Aghzam Turghunov, journalists Solijon Abdurahmonov and Dilmurod Sayid, and dissident poet Yusuf Juma.
“This reform has produced a situation where the best lawyers have been sidelined, and members of the public have been deprived of their right to choose a lawyer freely,” said Surat Ikramov, a lawyer who heads the Initiative Group of Independent Rights Defenders, based in Tashkent.
Komilov, one of those disbarred, says the authorities are trying to take over the legal profession and purge it of courageous defence advocates.
“Who will defend journalists and human rights activists now?” he asked.
Tashpulat Sayidov, head of the official Chamber of Lawyers, says the changes are designed to improve the quality of legal services in Uzbekistan and insists there is no subtext to the reforms.
“We need to be informed what our lawyers are doing and what cases they have been working on during the period under review,” he said. “That will help us track and disseminate best practice.”
The new regulations also changed the way lawyers constitute themselves as a body. The Chamber of Lawyers was established in May 2008, and all practicing lawyers in Uzbekistan are required to be members. It replaced the Association of Lawyers, which was more independent of government.
Whereas the old association elected its chair and deputy chair, these posts are now appointed by the justice ministry.
Lawyers in private practice are unhappy at being shoehorned into a quasi-state institution.
“Mandatory membership of the chamber is entirely unwarranted, and contradicts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which says membership of public associations should be voluntary,” said Komilov.
(NBCentralAsia is an IWPR-funded project to create a multilingual news analysis and comment service for Central Asia, drawing on the expertise of a broad range of political observers across the region. The project ran from August 2006 to September 2007, covering all five regional states. With new funding, the service has resumed, covering Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.)
