Uzbekistan: Prosecutor’s Office made a statement on the arrest of a journalist

The General Prosecutor’s Office of Uzbekistan issued a brief official statement regarding the detention in Kyrgyzstan of the Uzbek journalist Bobomurod Abdullayev. Referring to the Minsk Convention On Legal Assistance in Civil, Family and Criminal Cases, the department confirmed that the issue of his extradition to the Republic of Uzbekistan is currently being resolved.

Judging by the actions of the Kyrgyz State Committee for National Security, they are in cahoots with their Uzbek counterparts if they deprived Abdullayev of the right to defense. The lawyers are not permitted to see the client due to a 14 days quarantine and a nondisclosure agreement. One gets the impression that any information leak will testify in favor of the accused, and this is an undesirable outcome for the two special services.

Abdullaev is on the wanted list with charges under Articles 158 (Encroachments on the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan) and 159 (Encroachments on the Constitutional System) of the Criminal Code, punishable by imprisonment for up to 20 years.

The charges are related to a series of publications on the network under the pseudonym Qora Mergan (Black Sniper) about the past and present of Mirziyoyev, the presidential clan, and his inner circle. On August 4, the Facebook administration announced that the Black Sniper page was blocked due to numerous complaints from the state authorities of Uzbekistan. In a special statement, the complainants are deeply concerned about the libelous, offensive, and ridiculous publications by Black Sniper. Blogs with similar names were created by unknown people in June and July to smash the growing popularity of Qora Mergan.

After Bobomurod was detained, users continued to receive information from the telegram channel of the same name. Following the disturbing news about the journalist, the number of the channel’s subscribers began to skyrocket.

“The reason for the persecution of Abdullayev could be an ordinary denunciation of one of the Uzbek political emigrants, who cooperates with the State Security Service of Uzbekistan, the ACCA expert said. – It is unlikely that the investigators will have evidence of the journalist’s guilt. He categorically denied his authorship of the Qora Mergan texts. The only “evidence” can be a chugurma (headdress made of astrakhan) on the sniper’s avatar. It is worn in Khorezm, the small homeland of Bobomurad.”

The media community of Uzbekistan practically did not react to the news. Online publications limited themselves to notes about the arrest.

Human rights organizations have shown traditional solidarity. Amnesty International, Association for Human Rights in Central Asia (AHRCA), Civil Rights Defenders, International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR), Freedom House, Freedom Now, and Norwegian Helsinki Committee (NHC) have called on the Kyrgyz authorities to protect Bobomurod Abdullayev from forced return.

On August 11, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ, USA) asked the Kyrgyz authorities to release the journalist and allow him to work freely.

IPHR Director Brigitte Dufour reminded Kyrgyzstan of its international non-derogation obligation under Article 3 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which prohibits any state from returning, extraditing or expelling any person to the state if there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being tortured.

AHRCA President Nadezhda Atayeva noted the mortal danger for a journalist in case of deportation. “When Bobomurod Abdullayev was last in the hands of the Uzbek special services, they tortured him all day,” Atayeva said. “There is a significant risk of being tortured again.”

In May 2018, Abdullayev was already found guilty under Article 159. The court, under international pressure, sentenced Abdullayev to one and a half years of forced labor with a deduction of 20% of his salary and ordered his release in the courtroom. During the investigation, he was repeatedly tortured.

According to the journalist’s mother, her son was told the following: “today you managed to free yourself, but you will again fall into our hands, another time it will happen differently. Even if we put you in jail for one year, you won’t get out of here alive, we will crush your bones in a crusher and send them to your mother. ”

Earlier, ACCA wrote that the Pervomaisky Court of Bishkek elected a preventive measure against the Uzbek journalist detained in Kyrgyzstan at the request of official Tashkent in the form of 30 days in the detention facility of the State Committee for National Security. This was reported to ACCA by the journalist’s lawyer Natalya Kotik.

“By the decision of the court, Bobomurod Abdullayev will be kept in the detention center of the State Committee for National Security until September 8 (30 days). During this time, it will be decided whether Kyrgyzstan will transfer a journalist to Uzbekistan or not, ”the lawyer explained. The defense side does not agree with the court decision and intends to appeal against it in the city court.