THE
OBSERVATORY FOR THE PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS
PRESS RELEASE
UZBEKISTAN: Several human rights defenders detained in
serious danger
Paris - Geneva,
August 28, 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), expresses its deepest
concerns regarding the deteriorating health conditions suffered by human rights
defenders detained in Uzbekistan.
Several human
rights defenders currently detained in Uzbekistan to punish them for their
human rights activities are suffering severe health problems as a result of
poor conditions and ill-treatment in Uzbekistan’s notoriously abusive prison
system. The following is a non-exhaustive list of imprisoned human rights
defenders in Uzbekistan whose health condition would require early release to
allow for adequate medical treatment:
- Mr. Salijon Abdurahmanov,
a human rights activist and journalist, detained since June 7, 2008 is in a
very dire situation. His health has severely deteriorated since his arrest and
conviction last year. As reported by family members who visited him, he looks
sick, emaciated and has grown weaker and older. He started suffering from
allergy all over his body because of the low-quality of water and has not
received adequate treatment in prison: his body is covered with red rash
leaving deep scars. Despite the commitment of the prison authorities to send
him to Sangorod (the prison hospital in the Tashkent
area), no measure has been taken so far;
- Mr. Yusuf Juma, poet, writer and head of the human rights
organisation “Sakhroi sherlar”,
detained since December 17, 2007, is suffering from inhumane conditions of
detention in the notorious Zhasyk prison. The prison administration has regularly prevented his daughter from meeting
him. According to his daughter and relatives of Mr. Juma’s
fellow prisoners, prison guards are continuously beating and humiliating him,
who can hardly walk and is given an insufficient amount of food;
- Mr. Alisher Karamatov, Head of the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan
(HRSU) branch in Mirzaabad district, arrested on
April 29, 2006, was transferred from the prison Uya
64/49 to Uya 64/18, the sanitary prison in the
Tashkent area on October 12, 2008 because of his health condition. Mr. Karamatov contracted tuberculosis while in detention. The
chief doctor of Uya 64/18 in his medical report dated
December 2008 wrote that both lungs were infected with tuberculosis and that
the current state of the patient was moderate to bad. His lawyer sought to
secure his release on the basis of his health condition, but his attempts have
not been successful so far;
- Mr. Norboy Kholjigitov, a 60-year-old member of the HRSU Ishtikhan
region branch, has been detained since June 4, 2005. He is suffering from diabetes and is not provided the
required medical care. First signs of incipient gangrene have appeared on his
left leg and hand, as well as on his face;
- Mr. Khabibulla Okpulatov,
member of the HRSU Ishtikhan district branch,
arrested on June 4, 2005, is in a dire health condition. According to his
relatives, he can not use his right leg and has
serious sight problems, which required urgent medical care;
- Mr. Agzam Turgunov,
Executive Director and founder of “Mazlum” human
rights centre, in Tashkent, and advocate for the rights of prisoners of
conscience and against torture, detained since July 11, 2008, was tortured
during his interrogation: boiling water was poured down his neck in the Nukus police station. According to his son who visited him,
Mr. Turgunov's health conditions are worsening and he
would weigh today only 40 Kgs. The prison
administration has repeatedly ignored his complaints about his health and
denied him medical care.
“The serious deterioration of the detainees' health conditions is one of the
main characteristic of detention in Uzbekistan and is systematically used as a
way to break up all forms of dissent”, deplores Ms. Souhayr
Belhassen, FIDH President.
"The Uzbek
authorities keep denying the numerous and consistent allegations on the routine
use of torture and other cruel treatment in places of detention. However, we
know that detainees are subject to various forms of intense physical and
psychological pressure, and are often denied access to medical care. No wonder
we receive reports on the tragic deterioration of their mental and physical
health, given the harsh conditions of detention", said Mr. Eric Sottas, OMCT Secretary General.
The Observatory urges the authorities to provide all detained human rights activists immediate and adequate medical care in specialised
medical facilities. The Observatory recalls that under Uzbek law all prisoners
with ongoing medical conditions should be released from prison to be properly
treated. The Observatory wishes to welcome the resumption of the visits in
Uzbek prisons by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as of
September 7, 2009. However, the Observatory deplores the absence of a
tuberculosis programme in Uzbekistan run by the ICRC since the authorities
should normally assume it with the help of the prison hospital in Tashkent.
The Observatory
insists on the utmost importance to provide human rights defenders threatened
with effective protection, so that their physical and psychological integrity
be guaranteed in all circumstances, in conformity with the 1998 United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders and with the 2007 Resolution of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly on
Strengthening OSCE Engagement with Human Rights Defenders and National Human
Rights Institutions.
Finally, the Observatory urges on the Uzbek authorities to release all
human rights defenders immediately and
unconditionally since their detention is arbitrary as it only aims at
sanctioning their human rights activities and, more generally, to ensure that
an end be put against all acts of harassment against human rights defenders in
the country.
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