Farhad Muhtarov, was sentenced to five…

Uznews.net – Activist of the Human Rights Alliance of Uzbekistan, Farhad Muhtarov, was sentenced to five years in prison last Friday, even though he did not plead guilty. But his actions show he admitted his guilt.

The final hearings of Muhtarov’s case at Tashkent’s Yunusabad district criminal court started after his wife Surayo Muhtarova handed over 5 million sums ($2,630) which, according to the criminal case, Muhtar had owed to Shoira Sadybekova. This money was immediately seized by Justice Rohata Bakiyeva in the state’s favour.

After that, a prosecutor requested a nine-year term for Muhtarov, who denied his guilt but asked the judge to ease his punishment since he has underage children and his wife’s health has deteriorated sharply. However, the defendant did not drop a word that he had been tortured by prosecutors. As a result, the judge sentenced him to five years in a general-security prison.

It is possible that the sentence was milder thanks to the money seized from Muhtarov’s wife. Nevertheless, his colleagues showed surprise at her actions.

“If Muhtarov was not guilty, why did they have to give money? I was simply shocked by this,” the alliance’s activist Yelena Urlayeva said. “By deciding to hand over the money Muhtarov admitted his guilt and signed his sentence. Perhaps, he bargained to agree on four years in prison and because of this he may be released on pardon after a year in prison.”

That the money did not reach Sadybekova but was seized is another proof that the case against Muhtarov was trumped up and he did not borrow any money from her.

Human rights activists do not also understand as why Muhtarov did not mention torture in the final hearings. He might have done this in order to reduce a term requested by the prosecutor. The defendant and his lawyers intend to appeal against the court ruling.

Farhad Muhtarov was arrested in the Yunusabad police department when he went there to complain about police officers’ unlawful actions on 17 July. It turned out that three individuals – Shoira Sadybekova, Masuda Karimova and Anvar Eshanov – had filed claims with police, accusing Muhtarov of borrowing huge sums of money from them.

Later Karimova and Eshanov withdrew their claims, saying that they had to make claims under pressure from police. Even though Sadybekova had no witnesses or an undertaking signed by Muhtarov, police charged him with fraud and opened the criminal case.