Abdukadyr Berdimuradov, a resident of the city of Dashtabod, turned to the leader of the Human Rights Alliance of Uzbekistan, Elena Urlaeva, for help and protection, without obtaining justice in a legal manner.
On August 27, 2022, the businessman was detained without any reason by employees of the Main Department of Internal Affairs of Dashtabod (Zaamin district of Jizakh region). When he was subjected to insults in their car, he began to record obscenities on his smartphone. Law enforcement officers took away his phone and two million sums ($180).
In the Department, Abdukadyr was thrown to the floor and handcuffed to an iron bench. Then three employees of the detention center beat the detainee in the cell, where there should have been video surveillance. In a widespread message, Urlaeva wrote that he was carried out on a stretcher from the building of the Main Department of Internal Affairs and taken to the hospital of Zaamin district, where he had an X-ray and later an operation.
After the beatings, Abdukadyr became an invalid of the second group. “As a result of beatings from police officers, according to medical documents, Abdukadyr Berdimuradov had two ribs broken, internal organs of the abdomen were damaged, he lost 2.5 liters of blood, 32 centimeters of his large intestine were cut out. Abdukadyr Berdimuradov was in a coma in intensive care for three days; 12 days he was in the surgical department of the hospital,” the human rights activist says in a press release.
At present, a criminal case has been initiated against Abdukadyr Berdimuradov by the Prosecutor’s Office of Zaamin district. The details of the charge are not specified.
Employees of the Main Department of Internal Affairs of Dashtabod, after accusations of torture, hired a lawyer to defend themselves. As the ACCA expert notes, the Fergana story will most likely repeat, when in a similar situation the security forces escaped with a slight fright, despite the video evidence of the beating.
It’s worth recalling that in the Department of Internal Affairs of Fergana police officers beat a man. One of them wrapped his hand around the neck of the detainee and began to choke, the other struck and kicked. The Ministry of Internal Affairs said that the incident occurred in the summer of 2021. The court found them guilty and imposed a fine, but the appellate instance brought a verdict of not guilty.
The official representative of the Supreme Court, Aziz Abidov, said that the prosecutor of Fergana region filed a cassation appeal against the verdict of the Court of Appeal with the Judicial Collegium for Criminal Cases of the Supreme Court. The protest is currently being processed for review.
According to the press secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Uzbekistan, Shokhrukh Giyasov, the employees were not fired, but disciplinary punishment was applied to them.
