Dear Mr.Eric Bertinat,

On behalf of the international human rights organization “Fiery Hearts Club” let us express our respect and appreciation for your political activities in the Swiss People’s Party.

On April 24, 2013, independent Internet publications have published information about your appeal to the authorities of Geneva to investigate the origin of funds of the Kazakh fugitive official Viktor Khrapunov. Given the fact that Viktor and Leila Khrapunovs are wanted by Interpol on the request of Kazakhstan, where they are accused of committing a series of crimes, your appeal is timely and very important.

Being in solidarity with your appeal, the international human rights organization “Fiery Hearts Club” asks you to pay attention to the circumstances of origin of funds in Switzerland that belong to Gulnara and Lola Karimova, daughters of Islam Karimov, long-time president of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

In 2010, The Foreign Policy magazine compiled and published a list of twenty three of the worst dictators of our time. The seventh in the list was the president of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov, the eldest of post-Soviet tyranny, who has been the undisputed ruler of the country for the past 24 years. Torture, lawlessness, human rights abuses and rampant corruption are an integral component of the regime of the dictator. Islam Karimov has two daughters – Lola and Gulnara, who mainly work for the enrichment of the family.

According to the magazine “Bilan” (2011), which annually publishes a list of “300 richest people” of Switzerland, the total capital of Gulnara and Lola Karimova ha reached 900 million Swiss francs. Respecting the presumption of innocence, we can only imagine how Karimov’s daughters could become owners of such funds.

In the spring of 2012, Switzerland began investigating Takilant Ltd, the company registered in Gibraltar, which is believed to be controlled by Gulnara Karimova. The company was suspected of laundering large sums of money. In July of the same year, two Uzbek citizens were arrested in Geneva, when trying to gain access to bank accounts using false documents. After their arrest, a number of Swiss banks, suspecting the money laundering, have frozen accounts of these Uzbek citizens, which in total kept about 600 million U.S. dollars.

In September 2012, one of the TV channels in Sweden aired a documentary film “TeliaSonera – Uzbek affair”, which stated that “the Scandinavian company TeliaSonera had paid $ 300 million to Uzbek officials for obtaining a 3G license with the right to enter the Uzbek mobile market.” Immediately after the start of the investigation the courts of Sweden ordered to freeze the accounts of Takilant in the country’s banks. 30 million dollars on the account of Takilant in Nordea Bank were arrested.

I would like to emphasize that the ” TeliaSonera – Uzbek affair” documentary has led to the resignation of Lars Nyberg, the CEO of TeliaSonera, and to changes in the Board of Directors of the company. And in early May, the documentary film made by SVT from Gothenburg (Sweden) received the Grand Prix of the annual competition Circom (International Cooperative for Research and Action on the Field of Communication). The film was also the winner in the category of investigative journalism.

In fall 2012, the investigative department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia opened a criminal case under paragraph 2 of article 178 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (the prevention, restriction or elimination of competition). In early November, a court in Moscow arrested apartment owned by Gulnara Karimova, which is located in the luxury residential complex “Camelot” in the center of the capital and valued 10 million U.S. dollars.

Dear Mr.Eric Bertinat, the international human rights organization “Fiery Hearts Club” suggests that the total capital of Gulnara and Lola Karimova, which reached 900 million Swiss francs, was acquired by criminal means at the expense of the Uzbek people. For two decades, the Karimovs family has transformed the Republic of Uzbekistan in the space of lawlessness and injustice. Country’s natural resources and loans from international organizations are stolen. The population of the country is on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe.

Switzerland is not a place for world dictators and their offspring, and it is also not a guardian of the capital illegally gained at the expense of people’s wealth. In this regard, we ask you to assist in attracting public’s attention to the origin of funds of dictator Islam Karimov’s daughters, as well as in investigation of this matter by the authorities in Switzerland.

The international human rights organization “Fiery Hearts Club” hopes that you will accept our sincere request. We also hope that our cooperation will be long and fruitful.

With deep respect and appreciation,

Mutabar Tadjibayeva,

Head of the International Human Rights Organization “Fiery Hearts Club”

Paris, France