The action of human rights defenders Elena Urlaeva and Solmaz Akhmedova in defense of the workers of the Papal Professional College of Service and Mining Metallurgy ended with a beating on August 26. They gathered together with the teaching staff to temporarily block the road in the Pap district of the Namangan region in protest against the liquidation of the educational institution.
In the village of Chodak, 30 residents and human rights defenders were blocked by employees of the regional police department and local officials. Solmaz was hit by a car and injured his leg. At the district hospital, she was given a plaster cast, as the X-ray showed an ankle injury.
In a conversation with an ACCA journalist, Elena Urlaeva said that she had bruises all over her body and bumps on her head. All the detainees were brought to the Papsky District Office of Internal Affairs.
“In the department, the teachers were beaten with eggplants by angry provocateurs from the mahalla and the women’s regional committee, while law enforcement officers did not interfere,” she said.
A camera, passports, personal belongings, and money were taken from the initiators of the action. Late in the evening, the court on the initiated administrative case began, which lasted until 11 pm. Urlaeva, in particular, was sentenced to a fine of $ 435. The human rights activist noted that other fined women were crying, they have no money and little kids. They intend to challenge the judge’s decision. On the morning of August 27, the security forces themselves brought the human rights defenders to Tashkent.
The reason for the severe pressure on the activists was the actions of the deputy of the local council Tulkin Ermatov, the deputy head of the Pap district. He ordered to take all the protesters to the station. Karimjon Madazimov, an activist of the Maidon mahalla, a participant in the war in Afghanistan, told reporters about this.
“I’m not afraid to talk about it loudly, I know, here everyone in the police now also hears me (they can tell me to the address), I openly speak about it and write about it everywhere, but no one wants to understand the essence. How can a person be placed in leadership positions who, through openly criminal actions, have practically forced the people to lose confidence in the authorities! An honest person is not heard here, there is no justice in Chodak! We do not have basic living conditions, there is not even drinking water, children are sick, and these would-be leaders do not care. But one has only to start talking publicly about social problems, so you are immediately recorded in the “rioters” – complained Madazimov.
The village of Chodak with a population of 58 thousand inhabitants (of which 34 thousand people are Tajiks) has no infrastructure. There is no tap water here, people have to take it from ditches. In addition to all the troubles of young people, access to education is blocked, schools with Tajik language of instruction are closed. The fate of the college, equipped with modern equipment, seems to be a foregone conclusion: a dormitory for 50 people has already been taken away.
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