INTERNATIONAL PEN WRITERS IN PRISON COMMITTEE
Uzbekistan Action
October, 2003
The Erk Case:
Muhammad Bekzhon, Mamadali Makhmudov, and Yusuf Ruzimuradov
Erk (Freedom) was Uzbekistan's first official opposition party, registered just months before the collapse of the Soviet Union. Erk and Birlik (Unity), an Erk splinter party, were briefly active after independence. However, both parties were reportedly banned within two years and their members were arrested in large numbers for alleged 'anti-state' activities, with Uzbek President Karimov citing concern for domestic stability in the face of civil war in neighbouring Tajikistan: 'It is necessary to straighten out the brains of one hundred people in order to preserve the lives of hundreds of thousands (1).'
The following writers and Erk members were arrested in early 1999 in connection with a series of explosions in Tashkent, in which a dozen people were killed (2). It is thought that the arrests and subsequent convictions of these writers were linked to their writings in and the distribution of the party's newspaper, Uzbekistan's last opposition newspaper until it was banned in 1993, and to their association with the exiled Erk leader Muhammad Salih. Salih, himself a poet and the only independent candidate ever to challenge Islam Karimov for the post of president, has been living in exile in Norway since he left Uzbekistan in 1993 during the government's crackdown on opposition groups. He was tried in absentia for allegedly orchestrating a February 1999 assassination attempt against President Karimov, and thus faces a long prison term should he return to Uzbekistan.
Well-known writer and activist for the opposition party Erk Mamadali Makhmudov was arrested at his home in Tashkent on February 19, 1999. He was held incommunicado until May 1999, and was subsequently charged with 'threatening the president' and 'threatening the constitutional order'. He was found guilty on August 3, 1999 and was sentenced to fourteen years' imprisonment.
Mamadali Makhmudov, a member of the Uzbek Writers Union and the Uzbek Cultural Foundation, is a writer in the traditional 'dastan' style of epic verse which typically features a hero with magical qualities. Under the Soviet Union the dastan was said to be 'impregnated with the poison of feudalism' and Makhmudov was forced to repudiate his work. After the Soviet Union collapsed his most famous work, Immortal Cliffs, was retroactively awarded the Cholpan Prize. In 1991, Makhmudov supported the political party of a fellow writer, Muhammad Salih. The party lost the elections and has been banned ever since.
Makhmudov was first arrested in 1994 when his house was raided and police produced a firearm as evidence that he was guilty of terrorism. The charge met with widespread disbelief and was dropped. He was then charged with embezzlement and sentenced to four years in prison. An international campaign was mounted on his behalf, and when no evidence was produced he was given a presidential amnesty and released.
The following excerpts were taken from a letter written by Mamadali Makhmudov on May 2, 2003 and detail the torture that he experienced and witnessed in Navoi, Jaslyk and Chirchik prisons. It is taken from an unofficial translation by Human Rights Watch, and is available from the Erk website: www.uzbekistanerk.org/Erkinfo290403ru_2eturan.htm
From early morning to evening they made us crawl, run, sing the national anthem; they threw us into the psych ward, etc. There were serial murderers [at the Navoi prison] who had killed six people apiece, but they were barely mistreated….I lost consciousness twice in the courtyard and later the doctors said, "It's rare that anyone in that condition survives."
As we entered the "zone" [in Jaslyk prison], the cops fell upon us. They had truncheons, steel pipes… they began to hammer us. We lay scattered, everywhere blood, blood. Some had their legs broken, some had their skulls fractured, some were just outright killed. A constant wailing surrounded us. I was hit with a steel pipe and lost consciousness. When I came to, I saw that I was lying naked on the second floor [of the prison]. ….Then they dragged us to the cells, still naked…We weren't allowed to lift our heads. If we did, we'd be beaten to a pulp. They beat us anyway. They beat us for no reason. They kicked us and yelled, "Traitor to the homeland, Enemy of the people!"
Muhammad Bekjanov, a former contributor to the newspaper of the opposition party Erk and Muhammad Salih's brother, was deported from the Ukraine on March 15, 1999 and subsequently sentenced to fifteen years' imprisonment.. His other brothers Rashid and Kamil were sentenced to twelve and ten years in prison at the same time. Kamil was released in a general amnesty in 2002, but Rashid remains in prison.
According to reports, including Mamadali Makhmudov's letter from Chirchik Prison, Muhammad Bekjanov has undergone torture while in detention. The following excerpt from Makhmudov's letter refers to Bekjanov's treatment at the hands of the Navoi prison guards:
'In Navoi, Muhammad and I were in the same zone…Muhammad withered in front of my eyes…Then he was thrown into another division. He crushed stones from morning to night…His leg was broken during a beating. He suffered horribly from the pain in his leg.'
On June 18, 2003, Galima Bukharbaeva and Kudrat Babajanov of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) were permitted to visit Muhammad Bekjanov in a prison hospital in Tashkent - his first interview since he was imprisoned in 1999. He told the IWPR that, as a result of beatings received in prison, he is deaf in his right ear and his leg was broken. He is also suffering from tuberculosis, which he contracted after spending long periods of time imprisoned in damp cellars.
Yusuf Ruzimuradov , a leading opposition party member and former editor-in-chief of the party's newspaper, was deported from the Ukraine in March 1999 and sentenced to 8 years' imprisonment on charges of 'attempting to overthrow the government by force', 'membership of an illegal organisation' and 'slander' of the Uzbek president on August 18, 1999. According to a written statement submitted by Reporters sans Frontiиres on January 18, 2003, violent threats were made against members of his family, and torture and psychological incentives were used to obtain his confession.
International PEN considers Mamadali Makhmudov, Muhammed Bekjanov and Yusuf Rusimuradov to be detained in violation of their rights to freedom of _expression and association. It is calling for their release.
__________________________________________________________________
Footnotes:
1 Taken from a speech made by Islam Karimov in July 1992.
2 In 1999 a series of bomb blasts in Tashkent left over a dozen people dead. The president blamed 'fanatics' from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), whom he accused of trying to kill him and destabilize the country. Following the attacks the IMU broadcasted a declaration of jihad from a radio station in Iran, and demanded the resignation of the Uzbek leadership. IMU forces were in skirmishes with government forces during the summer of 1999.
Photos above courtesy of Human Rights Watch and IWPR.
Please contact ftw@pen.org if you have any questions.
Writer, others, tortured and jailed for distributing banned newspaper
Pays/Sujet: Uzbekistan
Date: 19 aoыt 1999
Source: Human Rights Watch
Personne(s): Muhammad Bekjanov, Rashid Bekjanov, Kobil Dierov, Mamadali Mahmudov, Ne'mat Sharipov, and Iusuf Ruzimuradov
Cible(s): autre , йcrivain(s)
Type(s) d'infraction(s): dйtention , attaque
Niveau de prioritй:
(HRW/IFEX) - The following is an 18 August 1999 Human Rights Watch press release:
UZBEK TORTURE VICTIMS SENTENCED TO PRISON TERMS
Describe Brutal Torture Methods
(New York, August 18, 1999) -- Disregarding allegations of torture, an Uzbek court today convicted six men with ties to a banned political party in a high-profile political trial. The men were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 8 to 15 years for participation in a "criminal society" and for using the mass media to publicly insult the President of Uzbekistan, among other charges.
The attorney for four of the men reported that all six defendants, including the brothers of exiled political opposition leader Muhammad Solih, testified that they had been cruelly and repeatedly tortured. A statement signed by all six claimed that torture methods included electric shocks, beatings with batons and plastic bottles filled with water, and the use of the "bag of death," a plastic bag used to temporarily suffocate victims. Authorities forced all six - Muhammad Bekjanov, Rashid Bekjanov, Kobil Dierov, Mamadali Mahmudov, Ne'mat Sharipov, and Iusuf Ruzimuradov - to sign self-incriminating statements and coerced several to declare their guilt on a government-sponsored national television program.
"This is an appalling example of political persecution," said Holly Cartner, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch's Europe and Central Asia Division. "These men were arrested, tortured and now convicted for possession of a banned newspaper, for their political affiliation and for no other reason."
The six men were convicted because of their alleged affiliation with Erk (Freedom), a political party, founded in 1990 and banned by Uzbek authorities in December 1992. Its leader, Muhammad Solih, was the only candidate to run against President Islam Karimov in the presidential elections of 1991. He was forced into exile in 1994, fleeing arrest on fabricated criminal charges. This latest round of political arrests and convictions comes against a backdrop of widespread arbitrary and discriminatory arrests following the February 16 bombings in Tashkent. The government has publicly implicated Solih as a conspirator in the bombings, a charge he denies.
Uzbek authorities barred local and international observers from attending the trial, including representatives from the OSCE Liaison Office. One defendant, however, managed to deliver a copy of his court testimony to Human Rights Watch. In it, renowned writer Mamadali Mahmudov describes the horrifying torture methods and threats used by Uzbek authorities to force him to confess:
"...in the basement, they regularly beat me...they burned my legs and arms. They put a [gas mask] on me and cut off the air...[and] hung me up by my hands, which they tied behind my back."
"They told me they were holding my wife and daughters and threatened to rape them in front of my eyes."
The other five defendants also reported that authorities threatened to rape their wives. Officers also allegedly threatened to rape Mahmudov and tormented him, describing the various ways in which they would kill him.
Mahmudov's allegations are consistent with Human Rights Watch's documentation of torture methods routinely used by Uzbek authorities. Persons held incommunicado, as Mahmudov and the other defendants were for several months, are particularly at risk for abuse. Authorities allegedly kept Mahmudov in a basement detention cell, the location of which was unknown even to him, for the first month and a half of his detention.
The state's case focused on the defendants' alleged possession and distribution of Erk (the party's newspaper), which the prosecutor claimed contains slanderous criticisms of the President of Uzbekistan, a violation of the criminal code's article 158 (3). Erk was the last of the opposition newspapers to be published in Uzbekistan before it was banned by the government in 1993. Other charges included conspiracy to overthrow the government and participation in an illegal or banned organization.
Without access to court documents or the presence of trial observers, it remains unclear exactly which articles or statements in the paper the court found objectionable, as do the grounds for the charges. However, the timing of the charges and the conduct of the case point to political motives.
Uzbek authorities' conduct of the arrest and trial of the six men violated domestic criminal procedure and international standards. All were held incommunicado in Uzbekistan for long periods prior to trial. On the first day of the hearings, attended by Human Rights Watch before the proceedings were sealed, the court was forced to postpone the process because the authorities had not acquainted defendants with the charges against them. After the trial had already begun, one defendant stood up and announced that he still was without a lawyer, five months after his arrest.
Mamadali Mahmudov, 50, wrote The Immortal Cliffs, a novel which helped lay the foundation for Uzbek national self-awareness in the late Soviet period. He was twice before arrested on criminal charges in retaliation for his association with Erk. In 1995 he was sentenced to four years in prison, but was later amnestied.
Ne'mat Sharipov, the defendant who received the shortest sentence, eight years, is a businessman who is not a member of Erk and whose only connection to the opposition party was his alleged transport of several copies of a book by Muhammad Solih from Ukraine to Uzbekistan.
Four of the men - Muhammad Bekjanov, Iusuf Ruzimuradov, Kobil Diyarov and Ne'mat Sharipov - were extradited from Ukraine by Uzbek authorities in March. For further information, contact Human Rights Watch, 350 Fifth Ave., 34th Floor, New York NY 10018-3299, U.S.A., tel: +1 212 290 4700, fax: +1 212 736 1300, e-mail: hrwnyc@hrw.org or Human Rights Watch, 1522 K Street, N.W., Washington D.C. 20005-1202, U.S.A., tel: +1 202 371 6592, fax: +1 202 371 0124, e-mail: hrwdc@hrw.org, Internet: http:
European Parliament Nominates Central Asian Political Prisoners for Sakharov Award
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
FOUR POLITICAL PRISONERS NOMINATED FOR SAKHAROV PRIZE
NEW YORK, September 18, 2003--Four political prisoners have been nominated by the European Parliament to receive the 2003 Sakharov Prize for their efforts to bring effective democratic change, freedom of the press and the rule of law to each of their respective countries.
Batyr Berdyev (Turkmenistan), Muhammad Bekjanov (Uzbekistan), Felix Kulov (Kyrgyzstan), and Galymzhan Zhakiyanov (Kazakhstan) were imprisoned for opposing the current regimes and promoting democratic reforms in the region, according to human rights groups. In each of their cases they were denied the right to a fair trial, access to proper legal counsel and visits from family members.
Batyr Berdyev was sentenced to 25 yeas in prison in connection to his alleged participation in the attempted armed attack on President Niyazov’s motorcade on November 25, 2002. Family members and friends are concerned about his failing health; others fear he may be dead. A former journalist and member of the opposition party Erk, Muhammad Bekjanov was arrested in March 1999 and sentenced to 15 years on charges widely seen as politically motivated retaliation against his brother, Muhammed Salih, a prominent opposition leader and former presidential candidate currently in exile. Following a string of arrests that began in September 2000, Felix Kulov was sentenced to seven years in prison (later increased to ten years) after he announced his candidacy for president that year. Finally, Galymzhan Zhakiyanov was imprisoned for seven years on charges of “abuse of office” shortly after he co-founded the opposition movement Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DCK).
European Parliamentarians from an array of political groups, led by Matti Wuori (Finland), Bart Staes (Belgium) and Martin Callanan (United Kingdom), have waged support for the nomination. Other nominees for the 2003 Sakharov Prize include Kofi Annan, UN Secretary General, and the UN staff members who perished in last month’s bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad. The award, valued at Ђ 50,000, will be presented at a formal ceremony at the European Parliament in December.
For more information about the candidates, please contact Peter Zalmayev at the International League for Human Rights, +1-212-661-0480 or pzalmayev@ilhr.org For more information on the 2003 Sakharov Prize visit: http://www.europarl.eu.int/dg2/droi/SAKHAROV/EN/.
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
Uzbek Torture Victims Sentenced to Prison Terms
Describe Brutal Torture Methods
(08/18/99) -- Disregarding allegations of torture, an Uzbek court today convicted six men with ties to a banned political party in a high-profile political trial. The men were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 8 to 15 years for participation in a "criminal society" and for using the mass media to publicly insult the President of Uzbekistan, among other charges.
The attorney for four of the men reported that all six defendants, including the brothers of exiled political opposition leader Muhammad Solih, testified that they had been cruelly and repeatedly tortured. A statement signed by all six claimed that torture methods included electric shocks, beatings with batons and plastic bottles filled with water, and the use of the "bag of death," a plastic bag used to temporarily suffocate victims. Authorities forced all six—Muhammad Bekjanov, Rashid Bekjanov, Kobil Dierov, Mamadali Mahmudov, Ne'mat Sharipov, and Iusuf Ruzimuradov—to sign self-incriminating statements and coerced several to declare their guilt on a government-sponsored national television program.
"This is an appalling example of political persecution," said Holly Cartner, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch's Europe and Central Asia Division. "These men were arrested, tortured and now convicted for possession of a banned newspaper, for their political affiliation and for no other reason."
The six men were convicted because of their alleged affiliation with Erk (Freedom), a political party, founded in 1990 and banned by Uzbek authorities in December 1992. Its leader, Muhammad Solih, was the only candidate to run against President Islam Karimov in the presidential elections of 1991. He was forced into exile in 1994, fleeing arrest on fabricated criminal charges. This latest round of political arrests and convictions comes against a backdrop of widespread arbitrary and discriminatory arrests following the February 16 bombings in Tashkent. The government has publicly implicated Solih as a conspirator in the bombings, a charge he denies.
Uzbek authorities barred local and international observers from attending the trial, including representatives from the OSCE Liaison Office. One defendant, however, managed to deliver a copy of his court testimony to Human Rights Watch. In it, renowned writer Mamadali Mahmudov describes the horrifying torture methods and threats used by Uzbek authorities to force him to confess:
"...in the basement, they regularly beat me...they burned my legs and arms. They put a [gas mask] on me and cut off the air...[and] hung me up by my hands, which they tied behind my back."
"They told me they were holding my wife and daughters and threatened to rape them in front of my eyes."
The other five defendants also reported that authorities threatened to rape their wives. Officers also allegedly threatened to rape Mahmudov and tormented him, describing the various ways in which they would kill him.
Mahmudov's allegations are consistent with Human Rights Watch's documentation of torture methods routinely used by Uzbek authorities. Persons held incommunicado, as Mahmudov and the other defendants were for several months, are particularly at risk for abuse. Authorities allegedly kept Mahmudov in a basement detention cell, the location of which was unknown even to him, for the first month and a half of his detention.
The state's case focused on the defendants' alleged possession and distribution of Erk (the party's newspaper), which the prosecutor claimed contains slanderous criticisms of the President of Uzbekistan, a violation of the criminal code's article 158 (3). Erk was the last of the opposition newspapers to be published in Uzbekistan before it was banned by the government in 1993. Other charges included conspiracy to overthrow the government and participation in an illegal or banned organization.
Without access to court documents or the presence of trial observers, it remains unclear exactly which articles or statements in the paper the court found objectionable, as do the grounds for the charges. However, the timing of the charges and the conduct of the case point to political motives.
Uzbek authorities' conduct of the arrest and trial of the six men violated domestic criminal procedure and international standards. All were held incommunicado in Uzbekistan for long periods prior to trial. On the first day of the hearings, attended by Human Rights Watch before the proceedings were sealed, the court was forced to postpone the process because the authorities had not acquainted defendants with the charges against them. After the trial had already begun, one defendant stood up and announced that he still was without a lawyer, five months after his arrest.
Mamadali Mahmudov, 50, wrote The Immortal Cliffs, a novel which helped lay the foundation for Uzbek national self-awareness in the late Soviet period. He was twice before arrested on criminal charges in retaliation for his association with Erk. In 1995 he was sentenced to four years in prison, but was later amnestied.
Ne'mat Sharipov, the defendant who received the shortest sentence, eight years, is a businessman who is not a member of Erk and whose only connection to the opposition party was his alleged transport of several copies of a book by Muhammad Solih from Ukraine to Uzbekistan.
Four of the men—Muhammad Bekjanov, Iusuf Ruzimuradov, Kobil Diyarov and Ne'mat Sharipov—were extradited from Ukraine by Uzbek authorities in March.
For Further Information:
Cassandra Cavanaugh (212) 216-1271
Acacia Shields (212) 216-1268
Rachel Denber (212) 216-1266
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: http://hrw.org/english/docs/1999/08/18/uzbeki1004.htm
© Copyright 2003, Human Rights Watch 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor New York, NY 10118-3299 USA
PEN USA
Freedom to Write Committee Case Sheet
Mohammad Bekjanov
Uzbekistan
"There is no democracy in Uzbekistan today… I think that the goals of the democratic Erk party are even more relevant now, and I will continue my political activity when I leave prison."
Mohammad Bekjanov (also transliterated as Begjon and Bekzhon) was one of the editors of Erk, the Erk party’s newspaper. The Erk party was founded in April 1990 by Bekjanov’s brother, Mohammad Salih, and was officially registered as Uzbekistan’s first opposition political party. Since October 1993 both the party and its newspaper were banned in Uzbekistan. In 1994, a group of Erk activists began to produce the newspaper abroad and to distribute it secretly within Uzbekistan.
Erk members are often targeted for arrest by the Uzbek authorities for their peaceful political activities. Many former prisoners testify they have been beaten, ill-treated, and tortured during their detention in Uzbekistan. Tortures included beatings, electric shock, and threat of rape against female family members.
In the early 1990s, Bekjanov worked alongside his brother in Uzbekistan, publishing the Erk party's newspaper. In 1995, he fled to the Ukraine, and he helped to secretly distribute the Erk newspaper to Uzbekistan for six months. He was living there when Uzbek and Ukrainian police raided his home and seized computers, books, and other literature in March 1999. Directly following the arrest, Bekjanov and several others, including PEN USA honorary member Yusif Ruzimuradov, were deported back to Uzbekistan, despite protests on their behalf from Amnesty International and other human rights groups. In Uzbekistan they had to stand trial for a series of bombings near government buildings in Tashkent. There is little objective evidence to connect any of them with the bombings, instead their arrests are linked directly to their involvement in Erk.
In August 1999, Bekjanov was given a jail term of 15 years, and was in five different jails during the years he has been in prison. He says he was tortured, ill-treated and forced to perform backbreaking labor.
"I don't want to relive in detail how I was tortured," he said in an interview with Galima Bukharbaeva of IWPR. "I will simply say that as a result of beatings, I can't hear in my right ear. In the Jaslyk prison in 2000, I was beaten every day. My leg was broken, I wasn't given treatment, and the bone only grew back together after a year."
Bekjanov has another nine years left to serve, after his sentence was reduced by two years. However, he is suffering from tuberculosis and there are serious concerns for his health.
Recommended Action:
Send appeal letters to Uzbekistan authorities requesting they unconditionally release Mohammad Bekjanov, and all those involved with the Erk party.
President Islam Abduganievich Karimov
Office of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan
Residentsia prezidenta/The Presidential Palace
Taskenth, Republic of Uzbekistan
Fax: + 998 71 139 53 25 / e-mail: presidents_office@press-service.uz
Prosecutor General of the Republic of Uzbekistan
Rashidjon Hamidovich Kodirov
Prosecutor General's Office of the Republic of Uzbekistan
ul. Yahyo Gulomov 66
Taskent, Republic of Uzbekistan
Fax: +998 71 133 39 17/133 73 68
E-mail: prokuratura@lawyer.com
Minster of International Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan
Zakirjon Almatovich Almatov
Ministry of International Affairs
ul. Novruz 1
Taskenth, Republic of Uzbekistan
Fax: + 998 71 133 89 34
Embassy of the Republic of Uzbekistan in United States of America
Honorable Abdulaziz Komilov
1746 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington DC 20036,
USA
Embassy of the United States of America in the Republic of Uzbekistan
U.S. Ambassador to Uzbekistan Jon Purnell
82 Chilanzarskaya,
US Embassy Tashkent
Department of State
Washington, DC 20521-7110
