Activists reported new facts of torture in the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. According to the head of the organization “Human Rights in Central Asia” Nadejda Atayeva, Alexander Trofimov, who is being tortured, is kept in Tashturma. His position in custody is aggravated by his disability.
As Atayeva notes, “during the inquiry, a number of procedural violations were committed. Trofimov is forced to confess for a crime that he didn’t commit. Both the prosecutor and the Ombudsman’s Office already know about this case of torture, but they have not yet taken any urgent measures.”
A group of human rights organizations is preparing a message to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and is going to publish a statement in support of torture victim Alexander Trofimov.
Another human rights activist Yelena Urlaeva claims in a disseminated message that “the President’s actions don’t correspond with his words”.
In his speech at the 46th session of the UN Human Rights Council, Mirziyoev assured the international community that “as part of the implementation of the national preventive mechanism for the prevention of torture, we will continue to strictly suppress all their manifestations, inhuman or degrading treatment. Such crimes will not have a statute of limitations. We intend to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture”.
In the city of Chirchik (Tashkent region), Elena Urlaeva recorded torture. After three months of the President’s speech on May 21, 2021, the judge of the Criminal Court of Chirchik ignored the statement of 22-year-old defendant Akmal Sultanov about coercion to testify by torture. The lack of evidence of guilt and the arguments of the lawyer were ignored. The judge didn’t take into account the testimony of witnesses about Akmal Sultanov’s innocence to the charge and sentenced him to 10 years in prison.
The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor of the US Department of State, in its report on the human rights situation in Uzbekistan for 2020, mentions abuses by security and law enforcement officials, in particular police and prison officials.
“The judicial system doesn’t work with full independence and objectivity, although this is established by the Constitution. There has been evidence of pressure from prosecutors and other law enforcement agencies on members of the judiciary to pass the necessary sentences,” says the US Foreign Office’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor.
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