In Nukus, the capital of Karakalpakstan, police officers are raiding private houses and apartments with the participation of representatives of citizens’ gatherings (mahallas) in connection with the upcoming celebration of the Independence Day of Uzbekistan. Residents of the capital are warned about the danger of holding rallies on September 1.
In conversations with residents, law enforcement officers, along with pro-government activists, intimidate the population, assuring them of imminent shooting without warning by some security forces at the slightest attempt to protest that day. In order to avoid interethnic clashes, the vast majority of raids are carried out by people of Karakalpak nationality.
In anticipation of unrest, the local bureaucracy is trying to find ways to avoid a crisis situation. For example, long before the holiday, the management of the city’s power grids insured themselves against possible troubles by taking written obligations from their employees. According to an ACCA source, “Each worker wrote a receipt for taking full responsibility if they were involved in an accident on September 1st. That is, there should be no claims to state bodies.”
The Uzbek authorities are trying in every possible way to hide large-scale repressions in early July, when protests broke out in Nukus and other cities, outraged by the upcoming amendments to the country’s Constitution, depriving Karakalpakstan of sovereignty.
Events from June 26 to July 2 culminated in a bloody finale in Nukus when the protests were violently suppressed by special forces soldiers.
On July 2, Gazeta.uz, citing the Karakalpak branch of the Republican Scientific Center for Emergency Medical Care (RSCEMC), reported 77 dead and 114 injured per day. The center noted that among the victims were women and children who were allegedly injured in the market, where smoke or noise grenades were used.
Earlier, ACCA wrote about the counting of victims by representatives of the Karakalpak diasporas outside Uzbekistan. On July 25, Russian human rights activist Vitaly Ponomarev began publishing a list of the dead. So far, there are 34 people on the list, according to official figures there are 21 of them.
On August 3, a new report was published – “Shooting down protesters in Karakalpakstan”, prepared by a coalition of human rights organizations. It includes the European Open Dialog Foundation, the Kazakh human rights foundation Qaharman, the Kazakh human rights movements Elimay, Femina Virtute, Article 14, 405, Veritas, and the human rights group Bostandyq Kz. Photos and videos obtained by Open Dialog confirm the use of grenade launchers and automatic weapons. Peaceful protesters and bystanders suffered severe lacerations: with some of them having their limbs torn off and the bodies of some of the dead badly mutilated.
Sources of information about other dead were testimonies and interviews with victims of persecution and their relatives.
