Uznews.net – Human Rights Watch has urged Uzbekistan to immediately release convicted human rights activist Alisher Karamatov who is facing torture in prison.
It also demanded that the authorities investigate an incident when prison officers tortured him in freezing conditions on 30 December 2008.
His wife Namuna Karamatova said that prison guards had tortured him to confess to a disciplinary violation – attending prayers.
She complained that because of tuberculosis he was transferred from the Karshi prison to the Tashkent prison’s hospital in autumn 2008 and now he spat blood.
Karamatov could not explain the reason for guards torturing him but said that a guard called Hafizulla demanded that he confess to praying and growing a beard.
After he refused to confess to what he had never done he was left outside for more than three hours. However, he could not put with the freezing weather and agreed to sign papers.
Alisher Karamatov, 40, member of the Syrdarya Region branch of the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan, (HRSU) was detained on extortion charges in April 2006. Human Rights Watch believes these charges are politically motivated and the real reason was his human rights activities.
In June 2006 he was sentenced to nine years and served his term in the Karshi prison where he contracted tuberculosis.
Karamatov’s case is another proof that in October 2008 the EU hastily abolished sanctions against Uzbekistan which were imposed for the Andijan massacre in 2005.
“The international community, particularly the EU and the US, should make the release of Karamatov and other human rights defenders a precondition for future engagement with Uzbekistan,” said Igor Vorontsov, a HRW researcher. “This is a chance for the new US administration to take a stronger position on human rights issues in Uzbekistan. A strong international signal will not go unnoticed by the Uzbek leadership.”
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