March 5
UZBEKISTAN: APPEAL CASES
HARASSMENT AND INTIMIDATION OF ANTI-DEATH PENALTY ACTIVISTS
Source: Amnesty International
Amnesty International is concerned that anti-death penalty activists
Tamara Chikunova and Dilobar Khudoberganova and their relatives continued
to be harassed by the Uzbek authorities in order to intimidate them
because of their human rights activities.
Tamara Chikunova, director of the human rights group Mothers against the
Death Penalty and Torture in Uzbekistan, and Dilobar Khudoberganova, a
member of the group, have documented violations of fair trial standards in
cases involving the death penalty, including torture in pre-trial
detention of the suspects as well as in some cases their relatives in
order to extract incriminating "confessions". There have been many
attempts by the Uzbek authorities to intimidate the activists and their
relatives.
The authorities have also on several occasions made it impossible for
Mothers against the Death Penalty and Torture to carry out their human
rights work. For example, in December 2003, this human rights group was
the driving force behind the organization of an international conference
to be held in Tashkent, aimed at initiating a public debate about the
death penalty and a dialogue with the authorities. The conference was
blocked by the authorities only hours before it was due to begin.
Men, who introduced themselves as "National Security Service officials",
called Tamara Chikunova and Dilobar Khudoberganova and threatened them
with death after they addressed the European Bank of Reconstruction and
Development at a meeting held in Tashkent in May 2003. They were told, for
example, that their group was "blacklisted" and that the Security Services
were awaiting orders to "eliminate" the organization.
In 2003 armed police came to the flat of Tamara Chikunova up to three
times a week, to "check her documents". At one point she was accused by
police officers of running a brothel, and in August 2003 a senior officer
of Khamzinsky regional police came to Tamara Chikunovas flat and told her
she was suspected of sympathizing with Islamist extremists.
Tamara Chikunovas and Dilobar Khudoberganovas participation in a lobbying
tour on the death penalty, organized by several AI Sections between
September and December 2004, apparently triggered new incidents of
harassment.
At six oclock on the morning of 29 September 2004 an investigator from
Mirobad district procuracy in Tashkent came to the house of the mother of
Tamara Chikunova. The investigator told the 78-year-old woman, who is
confined to her bed, that he had an arrest warrant for her daughter on the
basis that she had carried out pickets which led to unrest in the Ferghana
valley and in Tashkent. There were strong indications that the authorities
targeted her mother to put pressure on Tamara Chikunova who was on an
AI-sponsored tour in the Netherlands at the time.
On 21 December 2004 Erkin Khudoberganov, the father of Dilobar
Khudoberganova, received a phone call by a man who introduced himself as a
"National Security Service official". He said that Dilobar Khudoberganova
"talks too much" and warned that he should "think about the consequences
her activities could have for his family". The caller specifically
criticized Dilobar Khudoberganova for giving interviews to the BBC and
Radio Liberty, which, he said, the National Security Service had recorded,
and for raising human rights issues on an AI-sponsored lobbying tour.
Despite regular threats and harassment from the authorities intent on
stopping the work of Mothers against the Death Penalty and Torture, Tamara
Chikunova and Dilobar Khudoberganova, as well as the other members of the
organization remain committed to their work and have continued their
campaigning and lobbying.
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Take Action! Please send appeals to the Uzbek authorities to arrive as
quickly as possible, in Uzbek, Russian, English or your own language:
- expressing concern that Tamara Chikunova and Dilobar Khudoberganova and
their families have been intimidated by the authorities on several
occasions;
- urging them to ensure that Tamara Chikunova and Dilobar Khudoberganova
and all other human rights defenders in the country are not harassed and
intimidated by the authorities and that they can engage in human rights
work without hindrance.
- urging them to investigate the harassment of Tamara Chikunova and
Dilobar Khudoberganova and their families.
Please send your appeals to:
1) President of Uzbekistan
Islam A. KARIMOV
Rezidentsia prezidenta;
ul. Uzbekistanskaia, 43;
Tashkent 700163
UZBEKISTAN
Fax: +998 71 139 55 25
Email: [email protected]
Salutation: Dear President Karimov
2) Minister of Foreign Affairs
Eler Ganiev
Ministerstvo inostrannykh del;
pl. Mustakillik, 5;
Tashkent 700029
UZBEKISTAN
Fax: + 998 71 139 15 17
Salutation: Dear Minister Ganiev
PLEASE SEND ANY REPLIES FROM THE AUTHORITIES AS SOON AS POSSIBLE TO THE
INTERNATIONAL SECRETARIAT OF AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL. (Europe and Central
Asia Program; Amnesty International; 1 Easton Street; London WC1X ODW;
United Kingdom)
