Family members of Uzbek refugee Bakhodir Karimov told “Jarayon”, that the Russian court extended his detention for another month.

Tatiana, the spouse of Uzbek refugee Bakhodir Karimov, told Jarayon that on 7 November the Samara court extended her husband detention until 9 December. In the court, Tatiana was allowed to talk to her husband and take his picture. In the photo provided by Tatyana Karimova, it is easy to see that Bakhodir’s hair turned gray since his detention.

“He’s grown very old. My husband told me about his deplorable state of health, which the photo clearly shows: gray hair, shadows under his eyes due to constant lack of sleep as he manages to sleep only 3-4 hours per day. My husband’s blood pressure repeatedly rises, he lost consciousness and a doctor was called for. Bakhodir often has colds, because it is very cold in the camera and he does not receive necessary medical treatment. He says that sometimes when he has high pressure, his vision gets cloudy and he can only see silhouettes. Since Monday, we will try to get a medical certificate from a doctor about his physical condition to add it to his case. As for his spirits, my husband is deeply depressed, I do not recognize him,” Tatyana Karimova said.

In addition, Tatiana said that the Office of the Federal Migration Service refused to grant a refugee status to Bakhodir Karimov.

We would remind that Bakhodyr Karimov, a 31-year-old residence of Altyaryk district, Ferghana province of Uzbekistan, was arrested on 3 July 2014 by Samara law enforcement officers.

Uzbek authorities charged him under articles 159-1 (anti-constitutional attempt) and 244-1 (Dissemination of information and materials containing ideas of religious extremism, separatism and fundamentalism) of the Criminal Code of Uzbekistan.

However, Bakhodir Karimov’s family members and advocates have called the accusations absolutely groundless.

“My husband has never been a religious man, he has never prayed, he has never gone to a mosque,” Bakhodir Karimov’s wife told Jarayon.

In 1999, Bakhodir Karimov’s three older brothers were sentenced in Uzbekistan to long imprisonment on trumped-up criminal charges of religious extremism and terrorism in the wake of the bombings that took place in Tashkent in February 1999.

During investigations, representatives of Uzbek security services forced Bakhodyr Karimov to give false testimony against his brothers, and tortured him. Then he was only 15 years old.

In 2005, Bakhodir Karimov left Uzbekistan following at his mother’s insistence, who feared for the fate of her youngest son.

After Bakhodir Karimov left Uzbekistan, he lived in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg. There he learned the Russian language and got a job. In late April 2010, he arrived in Samara and met his future wife Tatiana, a citizen of Russia. The young people married in October 2013.

Mutabar Tadjibayeva, the head of “Fiery Hearts Club” International Human Rights Organization, has been providing legal support to Bakhodir Karimov from the first days of his detention in Russia. She said that currently the Uzbek refugee is under threat of illegal extradition to Uzbekistan, where he would be tortured and accused based on a trumped-up charges and sent to prison for a long term.

For this reason, the human rights activist is going to ask for assistance from other reputable human rights organizations.

“Now we are going to appeal to Amnesty International with a request to hold a rally in support of Bakhodir Karimov,” said Tadjibayeva.

Guzal AKHMEDOVA