AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
PUBLIC STATEMENT

24 August 2011
Index: EUR 60/008/2011

Tajikistan: BBC journalist Urunboy Usmonov on trial for his professional activities

Amnesty International is concerned that BBC journalist Urunboy Usmonov faces up to five years’ imprisonment on charges believed to relate to his professional activities. To the organization’s knowledge, no investigation has yet been carried out into allegations that he was tortured and ill-treated in pre-trial detention. The judge has reportedly yet to inquire into how he and his four co-defendants have been treated in pre-trial detention.

On 16 August 2011 the trial by Soghd Regional Court opened against Urunboy Usmonov and four suspected Hizb-ut-Tahrir members — Abdunabi Abdulkodirov, Ibrogimbek Makhmudov, Talat Mavlonov and Yakhekhon Rakhmonkhujaev — at the investigation isolation prison No. 2 (SIZO) in the city of Khujand. The next hearing is set for 25 August in the building of Soghd Regional Court. It is expected that those officers who detained Urunboy Usmonov on 13 June will be questioned.

Urunboy Usmonov is accused of meeting these four men and receiving extremist literature; failing to report the activities of the banned Hizb-ut-Tahrir movement to law enforcement agencies; and using the BBC as a platform for Hizb-ut-Tahrir propaganda, thereby facilitating the commitment of crimes. His lawyer Fayziniso Vahidova told Amnesty International on 24 August that he once met Yakhekhon Rakhmonkhujaev and received Hizb-ut-Tahrir literature from him, but that he destroyed it immediately. According to Fayziniso Vahidova, he had never seen any of the other men and they also told the judge they had never seen him. Yakhekhon Rakhmonkhujaev reportedly told the judge that during his meeting with Urunboy Usmonov the journalist had expressed a negative opinion about Hizb-ut-Tahrir.

The lawyer also informed Amnesty International that the accusation that he had used the BBC as a platform for Hizb-ut-Tahrir propaganda referred to an incident when “Usmonov recorded an interview with a Hizb-ut-Tahrir member. But he never actually submitted this interview for broadcasting. Based on this only the prosecution states that he facilitated the commitment of crimes.” The prosecution additionally accused him of downloading articles from the internet about the activities of Hizb-ut-Tahrir. The charges brought against him — complicity in the activities of a banned organization of extremist character under Article 36, part 5, and Article 307.3, part 2 of the Criminal Code of Tajikistan – carry a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment.

Urunboy Usmonov has pleaded not guilty and told the judge that all his meetings and interviews with Hizb-ut-Tahrir members were of purely professional character as a journalist.

Amnesty International believes that Urunboy Usmonov, who worked for the BBC Central Asian service for 10 years, was targeted to punish him for his journalistic work and for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression. It was part of his assignment by the BBC to report about judicial trials and activities of the Hizb-ut-Tahrir movement in Tajikistan. In this context it was normal journalistic practice to interview people of all persuasions and beliefs, to study their ideology, and to keep his sources confidential.

Urunboy Usmonov was detained by officers of the State Committee of National Security (SCNS) in Khujand on 13 June 2011. According to the BBC and Urunboy Usmonov’s lawyer, officers tortured and ill-treated him, including by burning his arms with cigarettes and beating him, before his case was passed to the SCNS investigator and his detention was officially registered on 14 June. Fayziniso Vahidova told Amnesty International on 24 August: “They wanted him to ’confess’ to Hizb-ut-Tahrir membership but he was able to resist. However, they got him to state in writing that he should have reported to the authorities about his meetings with his sources of information.” According to the lawyer, before his case was passed to the investigator, SCNS officers also forced him under torture to write a statement renouncing the services of a lawyer: “They said that a lawyer can’t help anyway in political cases and that there had never been a case where anyone accused of Hizb-ut-Tahrir membership had been acquitted by a court.”

To Amnesty International’s knowledge, no forensic medical examination was conducted to investigate the torture allegations although injuries were reportedly visible when he was presented to the judge on 15 June and on 16 June international and local media started to report about alleged torture. Following an international outcry Urunboy Usmonov was released on bail on 14 July.

Urunboy Usmonov’s co-defendants are accused of crimes including setting up a criminal organization and incitement to national, racial or religious hatred. Three of them have not been represented by a lawyer at the trial. A person present at the trial told Amnesty International: “It is unknown whether they were held incommunicado and whether they were tortured. They are too scared to talk about anything like that”. Reportedly, the judge asked no questions about the treatment of all defendants in pre-trial detention.

Under international human rights law, information and confessions obtained from the defandants under torture or threats of torture and without the presence of his lawyer must not be used as evidence in court except as evidence against the alleged perpetrators. Allegations of torture, other ill-treatment and threats of torture must be investigated thoroughly, impartially and independently.

Backgrond information
Urunboy Usmonov was initially accused of membership in the banned movement Hizb-ut-Tahrir, and of conducting extremist propaganda using the internet, distributing the group’s literature and recruiting new members, an Interior Ministry spokesperson reported on 15 June. However, the investigation found no evidence of membership and, as reported by SCNS officials on 6 July, subsequently focused on his alleged involvement in the banned organization and on failing to inform the authorities of his contacts with it.

Urunboy Usmonov did not come home from work on 13 June. The next day he briefly returned to his family’s home in Khujand. He was in the presence of SCNS officers, who had come to search the house. His relatives saw injuries on his neck that they believe he sustained from torture or other forms of ill-treatment in detention.

Amnesty International has criticized human rights violations in the country including torture and ill-treatment by law enforcement officers; impunity for torturers; restrictions of freedom of speech; and violence against women.

In recent years independent media outlets and journalists have faced criminal and civil law suits for criticizing the government.

Law enforcement officers have in many cases been accused of torturing or beating detainees. Safeguards against torture enshrined in domestic law are not always adhered to. For example, while the new Criminal Procedure Code stipulates that detainees are entitled to a lawyer from the moment of their arrest, in practice lawyers are at the mercy of investigators who can deny them access for many days. During this period of incommunicado detention, the risk of torture or other ill-treatment is particularly high.

http://www.amnesty.org/

REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS/ REPORTERS SANS FRONTIÈRES

Press release/ Communiqué de presse

23.08.2011

English : http://en.rsf.org/tadjikistan-bbc-correspondent-tells-court-he-23-08-2011,40553.html

Français : http://fr.rsf.org/tadjikistan-poursuite-du-proces-du-23-08-2011,40548.html

TAJIKISTAN : BBC correspondent tells court he was tortured while detained
Reporters Without Borders reiterates it call to the judicial authorities to drop all charges against BBC correspondent Urinboy Usmonov, whose trial began on 16 August in the northern city of Khujand.

“Usmonov’s claims of being tortured while in detention are shocking,” Reporters Without Borders said. “They must be the subject of a serious investigation and those responsible should be punished. Unfortunately this is just the latest in a long list of irregularities since his arrest on 13 June, including denial of defence rights for a long period, statements obtained under duress and lack of evidence. His acquittal is the only way the authorities can emerge from this without completely discrediting themselves.”

The BBC reported on 19 August that during last week’s hearings, Usmonov said he had been burned with lit cigarettes and beaten while detained.

After his arrest on 13 June, he was initially accused of being a member of the outlawed Islamist party Hizb-ut-Tahrir. Now he is charged with being in contact with Hizb-ut-Tahrir without telling the authorities.

http://en.rsf.org/tadjikistan-bbc-correspondent-tells-court-he-23-08-2011,40553.html

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ALMATY, Kazakhstan — A web-based television channel in Kazakhstan says it has been subjected to intrusive inspections because of its independent news coverage, RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service reports.

Two editors of the Almaty-based Stan-TV, Elina Zhdanova and Baurzhan Musirov, told journalists on August 23 that their offices were inspected without prior warning last week by representatives of the Almaty city architecture-and-construction-control, fire-safety control, and sanitary-control boards.

They said the inspectors told them the inspections were undertaken in response to written complaints from residents of nearby apartment blocks about a large antenna placed on the roof of Stan-TV’s office. The inspectors said the residents complained that the antenna was affecting their health.

Zhdanova and Musirov said they subsequently met with some of those residents, who told them local police pressured them to write letters of complaint.

The Stan-TV representatives told journalists they plan to formally request that Almaty city police and the National Security Committee (KNB) investigate whether the inspection of their offices was legal.

http://www.rferl.org/content/kazakh_journalists_link_inspections_to_coverage/24305881.html

The Tajik president, Emomali Rahmon, has recently been awarded «the highest European Cultural and Political Honor» by the European Council on International Relations (ECIR). In «a rare ceremony with academics, intellectuals, and political leaders,» the Tajik ambassador to the EU, Rustamjon Soliev, accepted the prize on behalf of his boss. Tajik state media was all over the story.

Not all, however, is what it seems. Very little is known about the European Council on International Relations (ECIR), not to be confused with the well-respected European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR).
On its website, the ECIR is described as «an independent, non-partisan, pan-European organization, known as European Union leading academic think tank.» But there is no telephone number, e-mail, or postal address for the organization even though it appears that it is operating out of Bucharest. It has no Brussels office, the Romanian EU embassy has never heard of it, and neither has any other EU diplomat or Brussels wonk that I spoke to.
On the website, the ECIR’s director, Professor Anton Caragea, explained that the prize was bestowed upon Rahmon because of Tajikistan’s sustainable economic growth, his investment in the country’s health, environment, and education sector and his transformation of «Tajikistan into a secure state, with safe borders.»
Others might disagree. Rahmon has ruled the poorest of the Central Asian republics with an iron grip since 1992. He and his family control most of Tajikistan’s big businesses and he has been accused of the usual human rights abuses: staged elections, torture of political opponents, and severe restrictions of media freedoms.
Getting comment from the ECIR has not proved to be easy. Caragea, the only person that seems connected to the ECIR, writes that he is an expert in international relations and history and the author of 300 articles. He is also a professor of Spiru Haret University in Bucharest, an institution described as «a diploma mill» by several Romanian journalists.

After two days of searching for his contact details, he seems to be as elusive as the organization he is heading. No mean feat considering that he is not only a member of the International Napoleonic Society but also was awarded the title “Man of The Year” in 2010 for organizing a summit on the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Bucharest in 2010. That summit, which has the appearance of an official OSCE event, was co-sponsored by the Kazakh authorities. Regardless, it isn’t clear exactly who awarded him the “Man of The Year” title.

Caragea certainly likes his prizes. As a director of another think tank, the Institute of International Relations and Economic Cooperation of Romania, he awarded the “Man of the Year” title to Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov in 2010.
It’s a safe bet that it will be Uzbek President Islam Karimov’s turn next year.

Rikard Jozwiak, RFE/RL

Источник: http://www.rferl.org/content/tha_shady_think_tank_honoring_the_tajik_president/24302099.html

OSH, Kyrgyzstan — Journalists in Kyrgyzstan’s southern city of Osh have been warned against «igniting interethnic hatred» as they cover the run-up to October’s presidential election, RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service reports.

Mairambek Rasulov from the Osh prosecutor’s office said authorities will be keeping a closer eye on media outlets in the weeks leading up to the election to prevent any inflammatory statements that might spark interethnic clashes.

Osh was one of the epicenters of violent clashes between local Uzbeks and Kyrgyz in the south of the country in June 2010 that left more than 400 people dead and hundreds injured and/or displaced.

On August 17, Prosecutor-General Aida Salyanova told RFE/RL that «any statements calling for interethnic, interreligious or interregional hatred will have very tough consequences.»

Salyanova also said that during the election campaign, which will start on September 25, all statements by presidential candidates will be carefully monitored by experts from Kyrgyzstan’s leading universities.

The Kyrgyz State Committee for National Security will decide on the basis of those experts’ conclusions whether to open a criminal case in connection with provocative or inflammatory statements, both written and oral.

Ninety-eight criminal cases were opened in Kyrgyzstan last year in connection with alleged «‘incitement to interethnic, racial and interreligious hatred.» Sixty-one similar criminal cases were opened between January and June this year.

http://www.rferl.org/content/kyrgyz_journalists_warned_against_igniting_interethnic_hatred/24300695.

The website Fergana.ru has reported that Elena Urlaeva, a rights activist in Uzbekistan, has been detained today in the eastern city of Namangan and told a colleague she is being beaten.

Fellow rights defender Bahadur Namazov told Fergana.ru that Urlaeva called him «and with her voice trembling said they were beating her in the Namangan city police station.»

Namazov also told RFE/RL’s Uzbek Service that Urlaeva she was in detention.

Urlaeva is a leader of the Alliance of Rights Defenders of Uzbekistan. S

he has previously been jailed, forcibly admitted to a psychiatric hospital and beaten by men with knives in front of her child on the street in Tashkent.

Urlaeva was in Namangan to protest a decision by local authorities to charge three local television journalists with extortion.

http://www.rferl.org/content/rights_defender_urlaeva_reportedly_detained_beaten_in_uzbekistan/243005

The trial of a BBC reporter accused of associating with banned Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir has begun in the northern Tajik city of Khujand, RFE/RL Tajik Service reports.

Urunboy Usmonov, 59, denies the charges, saying any meetings he had with Hizb ut-Tahrir members were for purely journalistic purposes.

The reporter said he had interviewed some members of the banned group as part of his work reporting on the region, where Hizb ut-Tahrir is active.

The BBC has said it regards the accusation as completely unfounded.

Usmonov’s arrest on June 13 was condemned by international media and rights advocates as a censorship attempt.

The reporter’s relatives said he was beaten while in custody.

Usmonov was released on bail a month after his arrest pending the trial.

http://www.rferl.org/content/bbc_journalist_trial_begins_in_tajikistan/24298287.html

ALMATY — A Kazakh journalist jailed for revealing state secrets has had another appeal for parole rejected, RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service reports.

Ramazan Esergepov, who was chief editor and owner of the independent weekly newspaper «Alma-Ata Info,» was jailed for three years in 2009 over an article he said revealed links between a businessman and the National Security Committee (KNB).

A prison appeals commission in the southern Kazakh town of Taraz on August 16 rejected his parole request.

Esergepov’s wife, Raushan Esergepova, told RFE/RL that the commission cited Esergepov’s alleged failure «to set about correcting» his erroneous attitude.

According to his wife, Esergepov’s jail term ends in five months. His previous appeals for release on parole were similarly rejected.

Esergepov’s supporters and rights organizations say the case against him was politically motivated because of his newspaper, which ceased publication after his arrest.

http://www.rferl.org/content/jailed_kazakh_rights_activist_parole_appeal_rejected/24298274.html

By Farangis Najibullah

President Emomali Rahmon was on a regional tour, and by all appearances it was cause for celebration in towns across Tajikistan.

Streets were hastily cleaned and adorned with billboards featuring giant portraits of the president. Blooming flowers were planted alongside busy roads.

Upon Rahmon’s arrival, he was welcomed in each town he visited this month by young children — girls clad in traditional dress and boys parading in starched-white shirts. They recited poetry comparing their leader to a revered 10th-century Tajik king, as well as legendary heroes.

A select few — hand-picked and invited to meet Rahmon — dutifully commended the «esteemed president’s» services to the nation.

Scratch the surface, however, and people have begun to complain that what the president sees during his tours of the regions is no more than a mirage, and has nothing to do with the realities of life in a poverty-stricken nation engulfed in unemployment and hopelessness.

Those who sought to discuss everyday issues with the president, however, were fended off.

Increasingly Inaccessible

«A group of intellectuals had been for months waiting to meet the president and they had concrete questions and problems to discuss with him,» says Shohin Ravshan, a journalist in the northwestern city of Panjakent. «But they were not allowed anywhere near Emomali Rahmon when he arrived in the town.»

«Regional officials were afraid these people would criticize them in front of the president or ask serious questions and demand answers.

«Recently, provincial Governor Qohir Rasulzoda visited Panjakent and this group challenged him with tough questions. Fearing the same scenario, they prevented Panjakent intellectuals from meeting Rahmon.»

Some accuse regional leaders of creating a false illusion of prosperity that prevents the president from getting an accurate picture of people’s lives.
While the president received the red-carpet treatment as he participated in ribbon-cutting ceremonies for new schools, hotels, markets, and cultural centers, regional officials made sure that access roads were blocked and cordoned off.

One could put this down to the need for greater security, but the efforts to keep the president completely inaccessible go beyond ordinary security arrangements.

In the southern town of Qurgon-Teppa, a girl called Mutabar desperately pleaded with city officials to let her speak to the president during his recent visit.

Mutabar, the teenage daughter of impoverished villagers in the southern Vakhsh district, claims she was raped by a high-ranking official two years ago. But police and court dismissed her complaint. Mutabar, who declined to give her full name, said she wanted to talk to the president because «no one else listens to me.»

She was sent away by police officers guarding the area, where the president was busy opening a new market and listening to flattering speeches followed by poetry readings.

Rahmon also took part in opening ceremonies for a string of other buildings and businesses, including a press center in Khujand, a five-star hotel, a nursery school and library in Qurgon-Teppa, and the Palace of Culture in the southern district of Bokhtar.

Behind The Facade

It is traditional for the president to participate in ribbon-cutting ceremonies while on regional tours. But locals half-jokingly note that many of the buildings or businesses are far from completion.

During a trip to the northern province of Sughd two years ago, for example, a cement factory was officially opened by Rahmon, but today it stands unfinished and unused.
Referring to the president’s most recent trip, local journalists say, only the facades and a few rooms of Khujand’s press center and Qurgon-Teppa’s nursery schools were completed.

It is what the president doesn’t see that has ordinary citizens worried. The impoverished nation of some 7 million people is plagued by widespread poverty, corruption, and unemployment that has forced nearly a million Tajiks to become migrant laborers in Russia.

Free speech and media are stifled by authorities intolerant of almost any criticism of government policies. Outspoken journalists have been sent to prison, prompting others to censor themselves.

And Rahmon — in power for nearly two decades — is virtually off-limits when is comes to public criticism. During the president’s latest trip to Khujand, journalists were invited to his meetings but were not given a chance to ask the president any questions.

«In the past, we could at least shout a question and the president would answer,» says a local journalist in Khujand, who didn’t want to give his name. «This time everything took place so swiftly under the watchful eyes of local officials.»

Who’s To Blame?

Despite the obstacles, a number of Tajik intellectuals have called on officials and state-run media not to prevent the president from seeing the scope of real-life problems among his people.

Mumin Qanoat, a prominent Tajik poet, warned against praising the president too much.

Even during routine reports and conversations, Rahmon is referred to as «his excellency» and as «esteemed president» by officials and state media. The president has in the past sought to forbid officials from bestowing him with flattering titles or pasting his portraits on city billboards.

«By sucking up to the president, those close to him are causing the president to become unaware of what is really going on in Tajikistan and the world,» Qanoat says.

Suhrob Sharifov, head of the presidential Strategic Research Center in Dushanbe, argues that sycophancy toward the president and trying to «please him» has become culturally ingrained in the country’s elite.

«It is the political elite’s way of showing their respect to the President,» he says. «During his trips to regions they try to keep him happy, as a sign of respect.»

Not everyone, however, is convinced that only officials are to blame. «If a person doesn’t like people sucking up to him, it’s not difficult to stop them,» says Mukhtor Boqizoda, an independent journalist. «It seems sycophants have melted his heart.»

RFE/RL’s Tajik Service contributed to this report

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

Источник: http://www.rferl.org/content/tajik_president_behind_the_facade/24298855.html