On May 21, a group of citizens was attacked by four members of the patrol force. The reason was the violation of the supposedly declared curfew, the existence of which was rightly doubted by the victims of the attack.
The incident was reported on a social network. “At about 3:30 am, the guests of Samarkand (three of whom arrived from Kazakhstan, one from Tashkent) left the local Taj Mahal club, calling Yandex.Taxi along the way. 3 minutes before arrival!” the user claims. “While the tourists were waiting for the car on the sidewalk, two policemen approached them and asked them to show documents, which the young people kindly did – two Kazakh passports, one Uzbek passport and a driver’s license. After checking the documents, the police officers asked the tourists to go to the police station, because (!) they had a plan before the SCO!” It was about the upcoming summit of the heads of state of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Samarkand in September this year.
The statement of one of the victims says that since they presented documents, didn’t violate public order, didn’t commit illegal actions, and this reason wasn’t legitimate, they refused to go to the station. After that, the officers said that they were violating the curfew. They were refused a request to refer to the relevant decision. After that, the tourists decided to record everything that happened on the cameras of mobile phones. This was followed by rude demands to stop filming, and after that – attempts to take away the phones. Then the police officers called for reinforcement.
When the second patrol car arrived, ‘already four police officers began to use physical force and try to force us into the cars’. Encountering resistance, the officers used stun guns. The victim reports that three young people, including a citizen of Kazakhstan, received multiple stun guns in the back, arms, legs and shoulders.
“The online media Gazeta.uz explains: then, personal belongings and documents were confiscated from the tourists at the police station. The employee, introducing himself as a senior, persuaded them to delete all the videos and ‘not to boost this matter’. Passports were checked several more times at the station, and after two hours of detention, the tourists were released,” the statement said.
The detainees were denied the call of the authorities of the Internal Affairs Directorate, and the hospital didn’t record injuries. Then they went to the Prosecutor’s Office, where they received a referral for a forensic medical examination. In the forensic medical examination, the beatings were fixed, but they didn’t issue ‘a single document, justifying that this would be transferred to the Prosecutor’s Office’.
“And then what was to be expected began – tearful apologies and pleas to delete all the videos, because they have families,” an eyewitness describes the actions of law enforcement officers. “Come back to Samarkand! The roads are open for you. We will meet you as expected…
Already met… Thanks! So that it will be remembered for a lifetime.
On May 23, the head of the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Uzbekistan, Shokhrukh Giyasov, had to quickly respond to the unprecedented arbitrariness against tourists, saying that the employees of the Internal Affairs Directorate of Samarkand ‘grossly violating the norms of professional ethics, abused their official position and powers to use special technical means’. The personal security service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Uzbekistan, together with the Prosecutor’s Office, began an official check of the incident, which disavows the actions of the authorities to attract tourists. Based on its results, the issue of bringing to justice and removal from service of all employees who violated the law, as well as their bosses, will be considered.
Gazeta.uz notes that police officers, in conversations and on records that have appeared on the Internet, speak of plans for detentions and fines. Many incidents become known only after publications on the Internet.
In March, an online discussion was sparked by the use of a stun gun against a disabled driver. In both cases, illegal actions by law enforcement officers violate the provisions of Article 23 of the law “On Internal Affairs authorities”.
Earlier, ACCA wrote about the Law on amendments to the Criminal Code and the Code of Administrative Liability, which came into force after the signing by the President, toughening the punishment for resisting a representative of the authorities. It was approved by the Senate without public details.
During the period of 2018-2020, 742 people were convicted for active resistance to representatives of the authorities. A month before the presidential elections in October 2021, the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs spread the news in the local media about the purchase of electroshock devices – stun guns, batons and pistols. Along with this, dozens of police vans and other special equipment were purchased to disperse rallies and demonstrations.
