Nov 132009
 

S T A T E M E N T

of the

Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan

November 13, 2009 ?.

Once justice and legitimacy fade away a state becomes a gang of bandits.
Augustine Aurelius.

(354 AD – 430 AD)

We heard Uzbek government’s declarations many times that Uzbekistan is building a democratic society based on the supremacy of law. Not so long ago the EU, having stated that its cooperation with Uzbekistan has acquired “a new scope and quality,” has lifted the arms embargo, the last loose sanction against the Uzbek regime as a gift for “the positive steps taken by Uzbekistan over the last years.”

However, many international and national organizations including Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan have stressed that Tashkent is misleading and deceiving the international democratic community without supporting its own words with concrete actions. In the years of Independence, as a result of President Islam Karimov’s authoritarian rule Uzbekistan has appeared among the ten most repressive countries of the world and took the 148th place on economic freedom. According to many political analysts and human rights defenders the human rights situation in Uzbekistan even worsened in the last two years.

Latest developments which have occurred in Uzbekistan, not only shocked the public since the time of fascism and bloody dictatorships with their uniqueness, unprecedented cruelty and dramatic character, but also they have forced many to reflect what country the people of Uzbekistan live in: in the democratic country or Karimov’s Gulag. We knew only through books that fascists dug people in the earth alive during the occupation.

In the first half of October of this year the special representative of the Chairman of the Cabinet of the Republic Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirzijaev in the Jizzakh Region Uktam Tursunov with the assistace of militiamen forced the farmer whose name is Muhtar from the farm named after Amir Temur of Pakhtakor District with threats to dig a tomb to himself in a rural cemetery for he dared to sow other plant on the cotton field after harvesting and even meeting and overfulfilling the cotton delivery plan. Thus Uktam Tursunov made a priest from the village mosque come to the cemetery and forced him to say the prayer that is usually done after the death of a person and absolutely inadmissible under the Koran. Is it admissible under “democratic” laws of Uzbekistan to do such things?! And he had a face to capture this terrible episode by means of his mobile phone and demonstrated it to the participants of meetings for the purpose of intimidation. Please, once again pay attention to the one who exactly has made it: The special representative of the Head of the Government of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirzijaev in the Jizzakh Region Uktam Tursunov with the help of militiamen who owing to the duties must protect people from gangsters, bandits and other waste of society.

From the early moments of President Karimov’s governance in Uzbekistan literally all the officials who ranks above made to themselves a bad habit to begin their speeches at meetings and sessions with a rough foul language, unprecedented insults and threats to the participants of the meetings and gatherings in the presence of women and dear aksakals (old wise and respected men). Against those who came out against their conduct or somehow objected to the unbearable insults, they organized persecutions, even brought actions with far-fetched charges and put in prisons. Many probably do not believe this fairy tale of the XXI-st century. But it is the fact and happening in Uzbekistan. Don’t you believe Craig Murray, the former ambassador of Great Britain to Uzbekistan? That he spoke and wrote is plain truth. All people of Uzbekistan are languishing under the yoke of dictator Karimov and his henchmen. He is ruling over Uzbeks by means of terror, lie and hypocrisy.

Here is one more picture from the life of people in Uzbekistan.

On November, 11th this year the head of the Movement “Birdamlik” (Solidarity) Bahodir Choriev who had returned home from the USA after five years’ immigration, arrived to the City of Jizzakh from Karshi to meet local active workers of the organization and human rights advocates. He fixed the time of meetings and began to wait the invited in a known institution of public catering. To the place also came the Chairman of the Jizzakh regional branch of the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan (HRSU) Mamir Azimov with the renowned human rights activist Bahtiyar Hamraev and they met B. Choriev. During the meeting Mamir Azimov was called by the officer of criminal investigation department of the Jizzakh Regional Department of Internal Affairs Jahongir Islomov and he told that he was urgently waiting for him at the highway and he had an urgent matter to discuss with Mamir. As soon as Mamir Azimov went out of the doors to him approached a stranger and Jahongir Islomov. The stranger suddenly started to rudely insult Mamir Azimov and took his phone away from him and forced him to follow with his car to the district office of militia.

In the district office of militia the Chief of the Criminal Investigation Department Nurulla Usanov entered into the office room of Jahongir Islomov and began to shout and insult human rights activist Mamir Azimov and Nurulla Usanov together with inspector Jahongir Islomov started to severely beat him, stamping by his feet and interrogated Azimov why he went to the meeting with Bahodir Choriev and told him that he never would tolerate that higher chiefs offended him for his permission to the human rights activists to have a meeting with the chairman of the Movement “Birdamlik”. Then the militiamen began to use their fists by turns and offending him with the most rough foul language in the Uzbek Language beat him during about an hour. Thus Islomov declared that he is not afraid either of the United Nations, or the public prosecutor, anybody.

Address your complaints where you want, he told him with abusive words to these bodies.

At last the militiamen got tired and then forced Mamir Azimov to lift a stool highly with his pulled feet widely apart and with this pose he stood until exhaustion and dizziness. After the appearance of sweat on Mamir Azimov’s face and onset of the symptoms of his illness the stranger (it was found out later that he turned out to be the representative of the anti-terrorism branch of the Jizzakh regional Department of Internal Affairs by name of Oybek) called somewhere and asked what to do further. After beatings, threats and insults during almost 4 hours they released him home. He reached his home hardly, however he had to go to hospital for a treatment
with the help of his son.

And such events have taken place and going on regularly in “a democratic” society under the dictatorship of Karimov.

Hence here appears sets of questions to the world community and the democratic states to which it is necessary to find adequate answers. The main of them: if such things are happening with human rights advocates then what will occur to rank-and-file citizens the majority of whom do not know about laws and their rights? Who must protect the rights of the citizens first of all but the state? Time human rights advocates groan under the heel of dictator Karimov and under such circumstances in Uzbekistan there is no antidote to this evil.

The people and their defenders are suffering under the heels of dictator Karimov and in such circumstances there is simply no antidote in Uzbekistan to this evil. While Karimov, to put it mildly, plays the game without rules, many patriots are breaking not only their feet and hands but heads and a long-awaited freedom does not occur even in people’s dream.

The Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan (HRSU) resolutely condemns illegal actions of the authorities of Uzbekistan against its members and other citizens and urges the world community to take drastic measures on rendering an effective pressure upon the government of Uzbekistan to respect human rights, and remind them again that they solemnly signed the international documents to create civil society in Uzbekistan.

Abdujalil Boymatov, President of the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan

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