In Uzbekistan, human rights activist has sought a full rehabilitation
Human rights activist, Chuyan Mamatkulov, was acquitted on all articles of the served term by the decision of the appeal board of the Regional Criminal court of Kashkadarya. The verdict was disseminated by the Human Rights company “Ezgulik”.
A 50-year-old former reserve officer of the Armed Forces of Uzbekistan was arrested on August 29, 2012. In 2013, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of kidnapping, fraud, perjury, falsification of documents and encroachment on the constitutional order. International observers and the accused were firmly convinced of the falsification of the charges.
The former ex-political prisoner has been completely acquitted of the charges against him in accordance with the article 83 of the “Grounds for rehabilitation” of the Criminal Procedure Code. This news caused a great resonance in the human rights community.
In the commentary to ACCA, Rachel Bugler, a researcher at the European organization IPHR (International Partnership for Human Rights), noted that, “The news that the Regional court of Kashkadarya completely rehabilitated human rights activist Chuyan Mamatkulov was very pleased. We hope that this rare case of justice will become a widespread practice for the judiciary and will certainly lead to legal reforms; thus Uzbekistan can stop the regime of gross violations of human rights, leaving a bitter experience in faraway past.”
As a member of the Kashkadarya regional branch of the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan, Chuyan Mamatkulov filed a lawsuit in 2005 against the first President of Uzbekistan, Islam Karimov. The human rights activist accused the supreme commander of the violation of the rights of military personnel. The judicial authorities rejected his appeals under various pretexts.
Chuyan Mamatkulov had previously removed one cranial bone, so he had a disability of the second group. Three weeks after his arrest, on September 25, 2012, he was deprived of disability under pressure from the prosecution and investigation authorities. During two years of imprisonment, Mamatkulov lost his teeth and still suffers back pain and onychalgia, especially in cold weather.
In 2014, according to the Association for Human Rights in Central Asia, a wound appeared on his head from the blows of torturers, which required a surgical intervention. For more than a month, Mamatkulov continued to have severe headaches. During this time, he was only given several tablets of paracetamol in the absence of medical supervision.
According to another former political prisoner, Agzam Turgunov, it is necessary to continue to put pressure on the authorities to release other innocent people. “Now there are eight more former military men on his list whose innocence is beyond doubt,” said the human rights activist. By his efforts in this field, after his release, he delivered a lot of trouble to the authorities. He was avenged by the fact that the Ministry of Justice did not register a public organization, the initiator of which he was. This was possible only after his voluntary resignation from the founders.
With great hope, they received the court decision in FIDH (International Federation for Human Rights). The head of the department of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Ilya Nuzov, said that Chuyan’s legal rehabilitation, the first of its kind, could be an important precedent for hundreds of other illegally convicted persons before the change of political regime, and thereby strengthen citizens’ faith in the justice of the judiciary. “I really hope that his rehabilitation will lead to compensation and other measures to restore his rights and property provided for by existing legislation, as well as initiate the same processes in relation to other illegally convicted persons,” the human rights activist emphasized.
