Uzbekistan: another self-arson to protect house
Another tragedy due to the demolition of houses took place in Kassansky district of Kashkadarya region. On February 19, Mukaddas Mustafaeva tried to commit self-arson near the building of the Regional Prosecutor’s office, protesting against the decision of the authorities to demolish her house. She doused herself with gasoline. The flame was extinguished in time by her 60-year-old father, Olim Mustafaev, but he received burns to his back and arms.
The house was built last year on an ownerless plot. Immediately after its construction, the owner appeared. In a conversation with reporters, Mukaddas Mustafaeva said that she had borrowed 15 million sums (editor’s comment: more than $1500) and built a one-room building next to her sister’s house on a plot of 7 acres. “This site didn’t have an owner; it was abandoned. I didn’t have my own house. Because of hopelessness, we took a loan and built a house. Before that, we lived in the closet at the bus stop. My husband is a disabled person of second group. We have one child, now I am expecting the second one. When we finished building the house, a landowner appeared,” Mukaddas said. “To be honest, I don’t have cadastral documents. Because of hopelessness, we just built a house on this empty plot. And now, they want to demolish our house.
According to the Regional Prosecutor’s office, a working group of the Prosecutor’s office has been set up to consider the situation. It consists of specialists from the district administration, the Prosecutor’s office, and some “independent impartial persons.” According to Olim Mustafaev, only one prosecutor came from the regional office, and all other members of the working group are officials from Kassan. “It was at the local administration that they sold for 400 million sums (editor’s comment: $42 000) the plot, where my daughter built the house,” the victim said.
Earlier, ACCA published the material about how inspectors of the Compulsory Enforcement Bureau under the Prosecutor’s office indifferently observed the self-arson of Khushnud Goyibnazarov. Thus, a resident of Andijan region protested against the confiscation of his pledged home. According to eyewitnesses, the flame reached one and a half meters. The neighbors of Andijan’s resident extinguished it. The tragedy happened on January 21. There were three days left until Friday. Khushnud just asked officials for time to move.
