Jul 062009
 

S  T  A  T  E  M  E  N  T
of the
Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan
6th July, 2009

Once justice and legitimacy fade away a state becomes a gang of bandits.
Augustine Aurelius.(354 AD – 430 AD)

The authoritarian states are preparing large scale crimes.

According to extremely disturbing information communicated to us by the former employee of Central Administrative Board of Execution of Punishments whom we consider a reliable source, the authorities of Uzbekistan intend to provoke revolts of prisoners during this year in a number of the colonies of execution of punishments. The purpose of such a large scale of crime as it has been informed by the source, are:
– physical destruction of a part of political prisoners (representatives of the secular opposition, people with religious beliefs, human rights activists, journalists);
– addition of new prolonged prison terms for participation in “revolts” to all who survive during suppression of “revolts”.
From the above-mentioned information it becomes known that provoking revolts will be carried out in all those colonies of execution of punishments where the great bulk of these prisoners is concentrated. Is the information received by us well-grounded?
Some time ago the Uzbek Service of Radio Free Europe “Ozodlik” broadcasted information of the intention of the authorities of Uzbekistan referring to the story of the woman who has learnt about it when she visited her husband imprisoned in one of these colonies. There she has learnt that in this colony Central Administrative Board of Execution of Punishments (CABEP) intentionally makes division of the contingent of prisoners by the principle of “50?50”, i.e. one-half of them will consist of political prisoners, and another half – of criminals (murderers, thieves, swindlers of different sorts etc.). According her story the second group of prisoners is being stirred up against the first.
Though the organisation of  the “revolts” among the convicted in Karimov’s prisons by the authorities is not novel, the very fact that these forthcoming “revolts” will be organised during the period of Islam Karimov’s chairmanship in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is symptomatic. Some days before the Islam Karimov’s trip to significant international summits or his departure from Uzbekistan for a state visit to a country an outstanding event indispensably occurs. Indeed before his visit to Brazil (on May, 26th of this year) and Ekaterinburg (on June, 15th of this year) during the night from May 25 to 26 terrorists attacked the small town of Honabad that is situated on the Uzbek-Kirghiz border. However, the Uzbek mass-media for some reason completely ignored this event that is seemingly not an ordinary case. And law enforcement bodies makes energetic investigation into the case having arrested more than 15 suspects the trial of whom quickly begins. The very fact that the attack on Honabad has occurred two hours prior to Islam Karimov’s visit to Brazil is remarkable, and he has not turned back at all. One more fact: three days before the day when Islam Karimov flew to Istanbul (Turkey) for the summit of the heads of member states of the OSCE on November, 18th, 1999, insurgents of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) allegedly attacked on the small town of Yangiabad situated in a hundred kilometres from Tashkent. Taking the floor at the summit first and delivering angry speech against the IMU he demanded from the West to allocate money for the struggle against terrorists and there and then left the hall and departed to Tashkent. Evil tongues seriously assert that before such trips Karimov firmly arranges for it with somebody.
It is necessary for the reading public to pay attention to one important fact – to the connection between holding elections for the Oliy Majlis (parliament) of Uzbekistan and attacks of terrorists from outside:
1999 – acts of terrorism in Tashkent (on February, 16th) – elections for Oliy Majlis (December);
2004: acts of terrorism in Tashkent and Bukhara (March) – elections for Oliy Majlis (December);
2009: an attack on Honabad (May) and possible suppression of “revolts (?)” in the colonies of execution of punishments – elections for Oliy Majlis (December).
Surprising, but, at the same time, and an ominous regularity!
It is well-known that the Shanghai Cooperation Organization consists of communistic China and a number of authoritative states in the post-Soviet territory led by the Russian Federation. The materials of the summit of the SCO which was recently held in Ekaterinburg clearly show that the leaders of the member states of the SCO, having agreed among themselves and presenting the political activization of religious trends to the democratic public of the the world as extremism and terrorism strengthening in Central Asia, they actually intend to eradicate from the political scene the democratic, liberal forces in the given region or at least greatly weaken them at the first stage.
As to religious extremists and terrorists in Uzbekistan all is clear; everybody knows that for Islam Karimov this is a fad to govern the country lifelong. But what is the position of the president of Kyrgyzstan Kurmanbek Bakiev in this question? As a democrat he probably hates any appearance of terrorism. After a tet-and-tet conversation in Ekaterinburg the heads of the two neibour states the special troops of Kyrgyzstan suddenly began to kill separate small groups of alleged insurgents of the IMU and “Islamic Jihad”. But why, in that case, the official Kirghiz authorities completely denied penetration of insurgents into Uzbekistan (Honabad) from the territory of Kyrgyzstan about which the Uzbek party has declared at the top of its voice? Besides, the same evil tongues say that Islam Karimov has a wide experience in defeating big imaginary and nonexistent groups of terrorists who has gained during the capture of “terrorists” in Tashkent (1999), Tashkent and Bukhara (March, 2004)  Tashkent (July, 2004) and Andijan (May, 2005). However, in these occurring events it is not clear just one fact: why the president of Uzbekistan and its nearest environment (e.g., heads of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, SNB – the National Security Service) literally in two hours after the explosions, firing, attacks declare that they know all who has started them, and at once, at the same moment the mass arrest of people begins.
Here is an incomplete set of actions of the authorities of Uzbekistan for the half of the current year, and also actions of the other member states of the SCO:
– in a few days after the Honabad events Uzbekistan quickly begins to dig ditches along the Uzbek-Kirghiz border;
– in one of Uzbek prisons an underground cell of religious party “Hizb ut-Tahrir”” is “found out”;
– in all the colonies of execution of punishments which contain political prisoners, begins their “dispersal” (breaking) and the addition of new prison terms to them;
– Kyrgyzstan begins to destroy, as has been told above, the terrorists of Uzbek origin goodness knows where from;
– “Struggle” against terrorists has oddly been conducted in Kyrgyzstan for the period of election campaign of the president of this country;
– Russia and China traditionally conducting the anti-American policy begins to allocate solid credits to the Central Asian countries, craving to strengthen their influence in this region;

– Russia aspires to create a shock fist – a military group of fast reaction within the limits of the SCO.
This story, it appears, is quite enough for the affirmative answer to the question put above: whether the information received by us in which the authorities of Uzbekistan are intending to organise revolts in the colonies of execution of punishments aimed at physical destruction of political prisoners under the pretext of suppression of these revolts has a ground or not.
The Society of Human Rights of Uzbekistan (HRSU) declares its resolute condemnation of the criminal plans of the authorities of Uzbekistan aimed at the physical destruction of political prisoners.

The HRSU calles upon all democratic forces of Uzbekistan and the world to raise their voice of protest against impending, ominous intention of getting rid of the opponents by using fascist methods.
We urge the international democratic community to condemn the policy of the government of Uzbekistan of suppression and destruction of the democratic and religious opposition in Uzbekistan.

Abdujalil Boymatov, President of the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan

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