Tashkent-based human rights activist Agzam Turgunov, who has been kept in detention for the past five years, woes that he cannot get an answer to his written complaints.

Recently, on October 30, in a telephone conversation with “Jarayon”, Bekhzod Turgunov, son of the rights defender Agzam Turgunov, told that the prison administration allowed his father to meet with relatives.

– On September 24-25, my older brother Murod went to the colony in Karshi to meet with our father. He was given a day long date. The health condition of our father is still very poor. He complained of severe pain in the legs. But despite this, he did not say much about his health. Basically, dad asked my brother to inform journalists that all the written appeal to the Supreme Court, the Prosecutor General, the Ombudsman, the Oliy Majlis, and the Ministry of Justice remain unanswered. My father is in prison for five years, but he still could not get a response from the higher authorities for his written complaints, – says Bekhzod Turgunov.

Agzam Turgunov, head of the human rights organization “Mazlum” (“Oppressed”) and a member of the opposition, was arrested in July 2008 in Karakalpakstan on suspicion of taking large-scale bribes. On October 23 of that year, Criminal Court of Mangit city in the Amudarya District of Karakalpakstan sentenced Turgunov to ten years in prison. On December 11, Karakalpakstan’s Supreme Court upheld the guilty verdict made by the court of first instance.

For the past five years, Agzam Turgunov has been serving a sentence in a penal colony UYa 64/49 in Karshi city.

Local and international human rights organizations believe that Turgunov was sentence for political reasons. From the first days of his detention, Agzam Turgunov was repeatedly subjected to torture and humiliation. For example, during one of the interrogations, the police officers poured boiling water on head and shoulders of the human rights activist.

A year ago, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention concluded that the arrest and conviction of Agzam Turgunov was illegal and contrary to international law. UN experts also asked the authorities of Uzbekistan to immediately release the human rights defender.

However, the Uzbek authorities have made no changes in the case of human rights defender Agzam Turgunov.

On October 29 in Geneva, the UN Committee against Torture held a meeting with representatives of the government of Uzbekistan, headed by Akmal Saidov, director of the National Center for Human Rights of Uzbekistan.

Saidov, traditionally reading his report, stated that Uzbekistan has no problems in the field of human rights.

However, observers say that the Uzbek authorities shamelessly lied to everyone as usual.

“In particular, they lied saying that the Ombudsman of Uzbekistan monitor conditions of prisons,” says Mutabar Tadjibayeva, head of the international human rights organization “Fiery Hearts Club”.

– Because I’ve been in a women’s prison. I spent there twenty three months of the total of two years and eight months of my sentence, and witnessed that the Ombudsman Sayyora Rashidova only once visited the prison. And what do you think why she visited the prison? She came there to sit at the concert, which was prepared by women convicts to the Independence Day of Uzbekistan. Representatives of the National Committee for Women’s Affairs, who visited the prison together with Sayyora Rashidova, were also there only for the concert. After the concert, they all left. They were shown a concert prepared by volunteers, and the audience included only beautiful and young women convicts. And the rest of prisoners were not even allowed to go to the toilet before the departure of the delegation, to make sure that Sayyora Rashidova will leave the prison in good mood.

I sent more than a hundred complaints to Sayyora Rashidova and Akmal Saidov asking to meet with me and help to stop the use of torture against me. In prison, there are special mailboxes, where prisoners can put in the letters addressed to the Ombudsman and special prosecutor for Supervision of legality in penal institutions. Unfortunately, the keys to these boxes are in the hands of prison guards and prisoners’ complaints regarding torture and unlawful actions in these institutions will never go out of the prison. Conversely, if one of the prisoners write a complaint about torture or other problems in prison, and throw it in the mailbox, in an hour the authors will be placed in a punishment cell.

These measures are mainly used against political prisoners and prisoners who believe they were imprisoned illegally and constantly write complaints to the higher authorities. And the order to torture them in order to make them silent is usually given by the investigating authorities, who brought a criminal case again them, or by the prosecution.

Agzam Turgunov incessantly writes complaints about circumstances that could become the basis for the termination of criminal case against him, and asks the higher authorities to give a legal assessment of new evidences. Turgunov, as many other political prisoners, is absolutely right, and therefore the Supreme Court neglects all his complaints. Even the lawyers hired by international human rights organizations to protect Turgunov leave his case half way, – says Mutabar Tadjibayeva.

“Jarayon” wrote on October 30 last year that Agzam Turgunov’s written complaints were not going beyond the prison walls. Entire year passed since then, but the Uzbek authorities still continue ignoring the calls from the prominent human rights activist.

Editorial of “Jarayon”