Aug 122009
 

Uzbekistan: Serious concerns at the deteriorating health of human rights defender Norboy Kholjigitov

Posted on 2009/08/12

Front Line is seriously concerned by new reports of the deteriorating health conditions of human rights defender Norboy Kholjigitov, former President of the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan (HRSU), Ishtikhan district. Continue reading »

Aug 112009
 

Russian Federation: Front Line calls for independent investigation into the killing of human rights defender Zarema Sadulayeva and her husband Alik Djibralov

Front Line calls on President Medvedev to urgently establish an independent investigation, in association with international experts, into the killing of human rights defender Zarema Sadulayeva and her husband Alik Djibralov . Continue reading »

Aug 102009
 

URGENT APPEAL – THE OBSERVATORY

UZB 006 / 0809 / OBS 116

Arbitrary detention / Harassment

Uzbekistan

August 10, 2009

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Uzbekistan.

Description of the situation:

The Observatory has been informed by reliable sources about the arbitrary detention of Mr. Farhodon Mukhtarov, an active and long-standing member of the Human Rights Alliance of Uzbekistan.

According to the information received, on July 18, 2009, Mr. Farhodon Mukhtarov was arrested at the District Prosecutor’s office as he was in the premises to submit a statement and a complaint against illegal actions carried out by police officers and investigator Boymatov. The Prosecutor decided indeed to report his visit to the police station, which came to arrest him directly at the Prosecutor’s office. Mr. Mukhtarov was then brought to the Yunus-Abad police station.

As of issuing this urgent appeal, Mr. Mukhtarov remained detained but no information could be obtained as to his place of detention nor as to the charges that would be held against him[1].

At the end of May 2009, Mr. Mukhtarov had already been briefly detained after a complaint had been reportedly filed against him by another Uzbek citizen, apparently for fraud, under Article 168, Part 2, paragraph A of the Uzbek Criminal Code. However, the authorities had refused to let him view the complaint.

The Observatory expresses its utmost concern about Mr. Farhodon Mukhtarov’s arbitrary detention, and believes that these acts of harassment actually aim at sanctioning Mr. Mukhtarov’s human rights activities. The latter had already been arrested in 2006 and later released following the mobilisation of the Human Rights Alliance and diplomats, and that his flat had been tentatively arsoned at the end of 2008 Continue reading »

Aug 052009
 

URGENT APPEAL – THE OBSERVATORY

UZB 005 / 0809 / OBS 114

Arbitrary detention / Harassment

Uzbekistan

August 5, 2009

oyazimhon-hidirova0208091

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Uzbekistan.

Description of the situation:

The Observatory has been informed by reliable sources about the arbitrary detention of Ms. Oyazimkhon Khidirova, member of the Djizak branch of the Uzbekistan International Society for Human Rights, one the few NGOs registered with the Ministry of Justice. Ms. Khidirova is an active defender of the rights of farmers and she has been denouncing corruption at the local level.

According to the information received, in the morning of July 28, 2009, agents of the ROVD (local delegation of the Ministry of Internal Affairs) in Dustlik arrested Ms. Oyazimkhon Khidirova. The latter was then placed in detention and charged under Articles 277-3-g (hooliganism) , 184 (tax evasion or other payments), 205 (abuse of power or office) and 168 (fraud) of the Criminal Code, reportedly on the basis of criminal proceedings that were initiated against her on July 16, 2009.

On August 3, 2009, the Arnaysaysky District Criminal Court confirmed Ms. Oyazimkhon Khidirova’s detention throughout the stage of the investigation. The latter immediately lodged an appeal.

On August 5, 2009, the Djizak Court of Appeal was to issue a decision regarding this appeal, but no information could be obtained on that question as of issuing this urgent appeal.

Ms. Oyazimkhon Khidirova would remain held at the medical division of the Dustlik detention centre, since her health status would have deteriorated while in detention.

Further, her house would have been searched on July 29, 2009 by representatives of the police forces, reportedly with the aim of discovering weapons, drugs and religious literature, but nothing of this kind was found.

The Observatory expresses its deep concern at Ms. Oyazimkhon Khidirova’s arbitrary detention, which seems to merely aim at sanctioning her human rights activities, in particular the disclosure of information concerning the situation of farmers in the Dustlik district implicating local public officials. More recently, she directly targeted the District Prosecutor and Vice-Governor of the district (vice-hakim) for acts of corruption in an open letter addressed to President Karimov. Continue reading »

Feb 192009
 

Appeal

Independent HRDs from Uzbekistan are worried and anxious about the news they are receiving about the dreadful situation in which prisoners of conscience find themselves in their places of detention. Many of them are being bullied by fanatical staff from penal colonies, and the tyrannical supervisors in the prisons subject them to all sorts of provocations. They do not receive medical assistance in time, and on many occasions their relatives have been denied permission to see them for various far-fetched reasons. Continue reading »

Feb 062009
 
People and the State
Alisher Karamatov; photo: HRSU
06.02.09 11:49
Human Rights Watch calls for release of Uzbek activist
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. Continue reading »