Uzbekistan
24.01.03
Urgent Interventions
Uzbekistan: Acts of intimidation against the chairman of the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan
URGENT APPEAL – THE OBSERVATORY
OUZ 001 / 0103 / OBS 004
Threats and restrictions on freedom of movement
Uzbekistan
24 January 2003
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint program of FIDH and OMCT, requests your URGENT intervention in the following situation in Uzbekistan.
Brief description of the situation:
The Observatory has been informed of acts of intimidation against Mr. Norboye Kholzhigitov, chairman of the Ichtikhan office of the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan (HRSU) in the Samarkand region. Since its creation in September 2002, this office has been under strict surveillance by the security forces.
On 19 January, about a dozen policemen entered the house of Mr. Norboye Kholzhigitov and began insulting and threatening him. For example, the chief of this group said the following to Mr. Kholzhigitov: “If you don’t shut up, we’re going to send you far away, where you won’t be able to get out,” and “why do you think you have the right to defend human rights when your organisation isn’t even registered?” The police officers’ speech was particularly violent and led to panic within the Kholzhigitov family.
This raid appears to be linked to an interview granted by Mr. Kholzhigitov to Radio Free Europe just a few days earlier. In this interview, he described the human rights violations being carried out in the Samarkand region.
Furthermore, on 18 January, Mr. Hasan Alimov, his wife and his son, who are close friends of Mr. Kholzhigitov, were arrested for the fallacious motive of cattle theft. On 20 January, Mr. Kholzhigitov tried to meet the person in charge of this enquiry. He was only allowed to meet with a police officer and he told him that he wanted to be the civil defender in the case. The police officer then started to insult him and retorted that a thief did not need a lawyer, and that he was not a defender as his organisation was not registered. Mr. Kholzhigitov was only allowed to see Mr. Alimov’s son who bore signs of mistreatment on his face. He mentioned that his father had been tortured.
The Observatory considers that these acts are part of a strategy by the authorities to hinder the work of the local HRSU offices. Indeed, since such sections have been created, members of the association have been frequently harassed, and their friends and families have been the object of different types of pressure, as in the case of the Kashkadaya, Nishan and Karakalpankistan sections. The Observatory would like to evoke the fact that the HRSU has been requesting registration since 1992, but this has been systematically refused.
The Observatory has also been informed that a member of the Russian Memorial Association, Mr. Nicolai Mitrokin, who has been working on the human rights situation in Uzbekistan for several years, and who denounces in particular the practice of torture in this country, has been prevented from entering the country on two occasions. On 18 January, while travelling to Uzbekistan to carry out research, he was sent back to Moscow on his arrival in Tashkent airport. Once again, on 22 January, on his arrival in Tashkent in the morning, his passport and airplane ticket were confiscated, and he was held for several hours at the airport. At about 2 p.m. he was told that a meeting was being held regarding his situation, without any further precisions. At 7 p.m., police services told him he was being sent back. As was the case with the first refusal, he received no explanation or no official document stating the reason for this.
The Observatory condemns these measures which constitute a restriction on the freedom of action and of movement of human rights defenders and especially a violation of Article 6 of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders which stipulates that “everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to know, seek, obtain, receive and hold information about all human rights…”
Action requested:
Please write to the Uzbek authorities urging them to:
i. end all forms of harassment and reprisals against Mr. Kholzhigitov and against all human rights defenders in Uzbekistan;
ii. guarantee freedom of movement for human rights defenders;
iii. abide by the provisions of the Declaration on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders adopted on the 9 December 1998, by the U.N. General Assembly, “on the right and responsibility of individuals, groups and organs of society to promote and protect universally recognized human rights and fundamental freedoms” and more particularly, Article 1 which stipulates that “everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms at national and international levels”;
iv. more generally abide by the international and regional instruments protecting Human Rights.
Addresses:
Mr. Karimov, President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, fax 998 71 289 00 46
Paris – Geneva, 24 January 2003
Kindly inform the Observatory of any action undertaken quoting the code number of this appeal in your reply.
The Observatory, an FIDH and OMCT venture, is dedicated to the protection of Human Rights Defenders and aims to offer them concrete support in their time of need.
To contact the Observatory, call the emergency line:
Tel and fax: FIDH : +33 (0) 1 43 55 20 11 / 43 55 18 80
Tel and fax OMCT : (+ 41 22) 809 49 39 / 809 49 29
E-mail : observatoire@iprolink.ch
OUZ 001 / 0103 / OBS 004
Threats and restrictions on freedom of movement
Uzbekistan
24 January 2003
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint program of FIDH and OMCT, requests your URGENT intervention in the following situation in Uzbekistan.
Brief description of the situation:
The Observatory has been informed of acts of intimidation against Mr. Norboye Kholzhigitov, chairman of the Ichtikhan office of the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan (HRSU) in the Samarkand region. Since its creation in September 2002, this office has been under strict surveillance by the security forces.
On 19 January, about a dozen policemen entered the house of Mr. Norboye Kholzhigitov and began insulting and threatening him. For example, the chief of this group said the following to Mr. Kholzhigitov: “If you don’t shut up, we’re going to send you far away, where you won’t be able to get out,” and “why do you think you have the right to defend human rights when your organisation isn’t even registered?” The police officers’ speech was particularly violent and led to panic within the Kholzhigitov family.
This raid appears to be linked to an interview granted by Mr. Kholzhigitov to Radio Free Europe just a few days earlier. In this interview, he described the human rights violations being carried out in the Samarkand region.
Furthermore, on 18 January, Mr. Hasan Alimov, his wife and his son, who are close friends of Mr. Kholzhigitov, were arrested for the fallacious motive of cattle theft. On 20 January, Mr. Kholzhigitov tried to meet the person in charge of this enquiry. He was only allowed to meet with a police officer and he told him that he wanted to be the civil defender in the case. The police officer then started to insult him and retorted that a thief did not need a lawyer, and that he was not a defender as his organisation was not registered. Mr. Kholzhigitov was only allowed to see Mr. Alimov’s son who bore signs of mistreatment on his face. He mentioned that his father had been tortured.
The Observatory considers that these acts are part of a strategy by the authorities to hinder the work of the local HRSU offices. Indeed, since such sections have been created, members of the association have been frequently harassed, and their friends and families have been the object of different types of pressure, as in the case of the Kashkadaya, Nishan and Karakalpankistan sections. The Observatory would like to evoke the fact that the HRSU has been requesting registration since 1992, but this has been systematically refused.
The Observatory has also been informed that a member of the Russian Memorial Association, Mr. Nicolai Mitrokin, who has been working on the human rights situation in Uzbekistan for several years, and who denounces in particular the practice of torture in this country, has been prevented from entering the country on two occasions. On 18 January, while travelling to Uzbekistan to carry out research, he was sent back to Moscow on his arrival in Tashkent airport. Once again, on 22 January, on his arrival in Tashkent in the morning, his passport and airplane ticket were confiscated, and he was held for several hours at the airport. At about 2 p.m. he was told that a meeting was being held regarding his situation, without any further precisions. At 7 p.m., police services told him he was being sent back. As was the case with the first refusal, he received no explanation or no official document stating the reason for this.
The Observatory condemns these measures which constitute a restriction on the freedom of action and of movement of human rights defenders and especially a violation of Article 6 of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders which stipulates that “everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to know, seek, obtain, receive and hold information about all human rights…”
Action requested:
Please write to the Uzbek authorities urging them to:
i. end all forms of harassment and reprisals against Mr. Kholzhigitov and against all human rights defenders in Uzbekistan;
ii. guarantee freedom of movement for human rights defenders;
iii. abide by the provisions of the Declaration on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders adopted on the 9 December 1998, by the U.N. General Assembly, “on the right and responsibility of individuals, groups and organs of society to promote and protect universally recognized human rights and fundamental freedoms” and more particularly, Article 1 which stipulates that “everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms at national and international levels”;
iv. more generally abide by the international and regional instruments protecting Human Rights.
Addresses:
Mr. Karimov, President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, fax 998 71 289 00 46
Paris – Geneva, 24 January 2003
Kindly inform the Observatory of any action undertaken quoting the code number of this appeal in your reply.
The Observatory, an FIDH and OMCT venture, is dedicated to the protection of Human Rights Defenders and aims to offer them concrete support in their time of need.
To contact the Observatory, call the emergency line:
Tel and fax: FIDH : +33 (0) 1 43 55 20 11 / 43 55 18 80
Tel and fax OMCT : (+ 41 22) 809 49 39 / 809 49 29
E-mail : observatoire@iprolink.ch