An urgent trial took place on November 11 following the ACCA publication “Uzbekistan: The authorities ignored the threat to kill a human rights activist” and the picket of activists in front of the building of the Main Department of Internal Affairs on November 7. The authorities had to do in three days what they stubbornly didn’t want for almost three months. The process was expectedly carried out in the direction they needed.
At the hearings in the administrative court of Yakkasaray district of Tashkent, the judge immediately explained that the materials provided by Tatyana Dovlatova under Article 112 (“Threat to kill or use of violence”) and Article 156 (“Incitement of national racial, ethnic, religious hatred”) of the Criminal Code don’t contain signs of a crime. As a result, this part of the application wasn’t considered in court.
As a result, the accused Sattor Rakhimov partially admitted his guilt and explained his aggression by impulses of a certain emotional state. It’s worth recalling that the ACCA has an audio recording and a transcript of a conversation dated August 2, in which the phrase “If I meet her, I’ll kill or strangle this bitch” is the calmest.
In addition, the last argument of the former defendant was undisguised intimidation. “If I get into her house, I will kill her and tear her into small pieces with my bare hands. And let her not walk here, otherwise I will kill this scum. This mahalla was created for Uzbek people, and not for these Uruses (persons of non-indigenous nationality),” Rakhimov said.
“It’s extremely hard to realize that the judge estimated the threat to take my life at 6 million sums ($588); such a fine will have to be paid to my offender. This is the minimum punishment under Article 41 (“Insult, that is, deliberate humiliation of the honor and dignity of a person”) of the Code of Administrative Responsibility,” the leader of the human rights group “Open line” commented on the decision of the court. “In the future, we will use all legal measures for a more adequate punishment. Moreover, Mary Lawlor (Special Rapporteur on the situation of UN human rights defenders) and colleagues from international organizations are aware of the situation.”
Earlier, Tatyana Dovlatova’s appeal about the threat of murder was accepted by state agencies in cold blood, delaying the response for more than two months. On August 16, she wrote the statement, attaching an audio file with promises of death, to the State Security Service (remark: the department promised to give an answer within three days – ed.) and the Prosecutor’s Office of Yakkasaray district of Tashkent.
On August 26, Dovlatova once again appealed to the city prosecutor of the capital with a complaint about the inaction of the Prosecutor’s Office. The SSS initially ignored Dovlatova’s fears for her life. Only on October 22, judging by the stamp, she received an answer from the Regional Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, where the departments forwarded the application. The letter itself reached the addressee ten days later.
For several years, the leader of Open line sought an authoritative assessment of the activities of a corrupt official after she caught Sattor Rakhimov in misappropriation of budget funds and illegal use of real estate on the territory of human settlement.
Human rights activist Klara Sakharova was an observer at the trial. She is confident in the need for further investigation of the threats.
“Tatyana Vasilievna is not only trying to protect herself, but also her colleagues,” says Sakharova. “You can’t give up here. We have no right to show people our helplessness in the face of violence and indifference.”
