Shukurzhon Abdurakhmanova laments that all written complaints of her husband Solizhon Abdurakhmanov do not reach the higher instances. Solizhon Abdurakhmanov husband sentenced to ten years of imprisonment.

Shukurzhon Abdurakhmanova informed “Jarayon” by the phone that her husband had been released from the punishment cell. However, according to the lady, when she visited her husband in the prison, he refused to tell her why he was put in punishment cell.

– The next day after he was released from the punishment cell, I was granted a short visit. First of all, I asked him why he was placed in the secure lock-up. But he immediately changed the subject. In my opinion, he was afraid of consequences as the prison administration would not forgive him any disclosure of the subject, – Abdurakhmanov’s wife said.

She said that during the visit, her husband sadly said that all his written statements to the higher authorities remain unanswered.

– Last year, he wrote a complaint to the Supreme Court of Karakalpakstan, which consisted of fifteen items in which he described in detail all the offenses committed against him during and after the investigations. However, his statement remained in the prison. Later I managed to get it out of the prison, wrote another one on my own and sent them to the Presidential Administration, the General Prosecutor of Uzbekistan, the Ombudsman, the Red Cross, and the UN representative office in Tashkent.

The Red Cross did not accept the statements. In the UN representative office, I was told that their office is situated in Geneva. From the first days of my husband’s imprisonment, I was not idle, I kept sending out my statements. But I have always received the same answer from the higher authorities. They write that the crime Solizhon was accused of was proven, and all my husband’s complaints have not been confirmed, – the lady sadly said.

It should be noted that Solizhon Abdurakhmanov is not the first political prisoner, whose complaints and petitions do not reach the higher authorities or are purposely ignored by officials.

Several times, “Jarayon” mentioned that human rights activist Agzam Turgunov based in Tashkent, who has been in prison for the last five years, also has complained that he cannot get an answer to his written complaints he sent to the court, the prosecutor’s office, and the Ombudsman of Uzbekistan.

On 3 October, freelance journalist Solizhon Abdurakhmanov was moved from Karshi Prison 64/51 to Prison Hospital UYa 64/18 (in common parlance called Sangorod).

However, on 17 October his relatives, who came to visit him in Sangorod, were told that Solizhon Abdurakhmanov had been put in the punishment cell for 15 days to stay there until 1 November.

Observers have often said that the Uzbek authorities often accuse political prisoners like Solizhon Abdurakhmanov of “violation of the prison rules” and put them in punishment cells in order to break them both physically and psychologically.

Colleagues from local and international human rights organizations have concerns with such penalties as placement in punishment cells can seriously harm Solizhon Abdurakhmanov’s health. At present, the political prisoner suffers a stomach ulcer and needs a surgery.

In 2008, Solizhon Abdurakhmanov was arrested and charged with possession and distribution of large quantity of drugs in Nukus. Though the court did not prove Solidzhon Abdurakhmanov was guilty, he was sentenced to ten years of imprisonment.

Twelve influential members of the U.S. Senate sent a letter to President Islam Karimov in defense of three political prisoners, including Solizhon Abdurakhmanov. In the letter, they expressed their concerns with the state of health of human rights activist Agzam Turgunov and journalists Solizhon Abdurakhmanov and Dilmurod Sayyid. 

Mubina SAFAROVA