Letter to the Ambassador for Human Rights of France from wife of political prisoner Azam Farmonov.

Today, when the UN Committee against Torture discussed the issue of torture and human rights in Uzbekistan and called the representatives of the Uzbek government, led by Akmal Saidov, to answer all the questions, I read the information on the websites of the French Embassy in Uzbekistan (http://www.ambafrance-uz.org/ Vizit-Posla-Francii-po-pravam) and some pro-government media websites in Uzbekistan (http://www.12news.uz/news/) that ambassador for human rights of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France, Ms Patrizianna Sparacino-Thiellay visited Tashkent on October 23-25.

This information caused my surprise, because the Ambassador for Human Rights of France, one of the pillar countries of the European Union, which is considered to be a hotbed of democracy, arrived in Tashkent and attended an international conference entitled “The role and place of the national human rights protection system in the modernization of the country: international practice and experience of Uzbekistan”, organized by the National Center for Human Rights of the Republic of Uzbekistan, but neither human rights activists or nor journalists in the country we informed about the visit.

As stated on the website of the Embassy of France, the meeting confirmed the growing interest of France and Uzbekistan to the bilateral cooperation in the field of human rights.

During her visit, Ms Patrizianna Sparacino-Thiellay participated in meetings at the Foreign Ministry of Uzbekistan and the National Center for Human Rights. It was also reported that she held talks with a representative on Human Rights (Ombudsman) of the Oliy Majlis (Parliament of Uzbekistan), Mrs. Sayyora Rashidova, director of the Independent institute to monitor the formation of civil society, Mr. Erkin Solihov, chairman of the National Association of NGOs of Uzbekistan, Mr. Abdumajid Karimov, as well as other representatives of international organizations working in Uzbekistan.

At the invitation of the National Center of the Republic of Uzbekistan for Human Rights, Mr. Didier Maus, former State Councilor and Honorary President of the International Association of Constitutional Law, also attended the international conference in Tashkent. In his report, he described the interaction between national and European systems of human rights protection. In addition, Mr. Maus met with Mr. Abduzhabar Abduvahidov, rector of the Academy of Public Administration (APA) under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, to discuss prospects of cooperation with the French National School of Administration (ENA) in the field of training of civil xz.

My name is Ozoda Yakubova. I am a wife of Azam Farmonov, chairman of the Syrdarya regional branch of “Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan”, who is being kept for eight years in the most brutal concentration camp in Uzbekistan – UYa 64/71 located near the village Zhaslyk (Republic of Karakalpakstan), who has been subjected to physical and mental torture in prison. I am mother of two children, who, in hope of seeing him, are forced to travel with me between Gulistan and Zhaslyk, which is at least 1,500 kilometers. And I would like to ask Ms.Patrizianna Sparacino-Thiellay a few questions:

1. Have you asked, as the Ambassador for Human Rights from a democratic country, who visited a country with a dictatorial political regime and met with those responsible for human rights in Uzbekistan, about the fate of political prisoners, who are unlawfully serving prison terms, and who are being continuously tortured?

2. Have you asked during your talks with Uzbek officials about the situation with the ongoing brutal torture in police stations, detention authorities and penal colonies?

3. Did you discuss with them the issue deaths of prisoners, who have been convicted for their religious beliefs? If you discussed with them this issue, what were the officials’ answers?

4. To what extent you are aware of the human rights situation in Uzbekistan? During those days, when you were in Tashkent, millions of students of high schools and colleges, and universities, workers from the healthcare system, teachers of schools, and staff of other public organizations were working in cotton plantations of the country picking cotton by hand. You did not know this? Nobody informed you about this at the Embassy of France? We understand that pro-government media in Uzbekistan do not write about this issue – they are not allowed! But since the beginning of September until today, many independent media have been discussing one of the most important problems of Uzbekistan – forced labor of millions of people in the cotton plantations of the country.

5. If the event in Tashkent, where you participated, confirmed the growing interest of France and Uzbekistan in the bilateral cooperation in the field of human rights, what achievements of Uzbekistan in the field of human rights you think are interesting and satisfied you? If you knew that Mr. Abdukarim Shodiev, head of the Head Department of Corrections (GUIN), Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan, never responded to any of my complaints about the condition of my husband, would you have raised this issue at the international conference, where you had a chance to participate?

6. Which of human rights defenders in Uzbekistan you had or managed to meet and talk? If not any, why?

Hoping to get answers to my questions to Mrs. Patrizianna Sparacino-Thiellay, I would so like to express my views on the policy of the authorities of Uzbekistan. And, my opinions are not a new discoveries, specialists and human rights organizations haver been writing about them for a long time. So, the Uzbek authorities, knowing that in foreign policy they have to deal with the requirements of the democratic world, from the beginning of the independence of the country decided to held a sham policy in all spheres of political life. All international organizations praised Uzbekistan, when in the mid-90s Uzbekistan was first in Central Asia to open state institutions on human rights, such as “Ombudsman” and the “National Center for Human Rights of Uzbekistan.”

In fact, these organizations and those, whose leaders the French delegation met in Tashkent, are a shield between the democratic world and the authorities of Uzbekistan. Mrs. Sayyora Rashidova, head of the institute of Ombudsman, and Mr. Akmal Saidov, head of the National Center for Human Rights, prepare interesting reports, produce plenty of exquisitely designed books and pamphlets, deliver excellent speeches at international meetings and conferences, give exceptional reports that have no impact in real life – they change nothing for the better.

What has changed after the introduction of the concept of “Habeus Corpus” in the criminal procedure law? Absolutely nothing! Did it stop the mess and lawlessness created by the prosecutor’s office, police and National Security Service (NSS)?” No!

On May 6, 2002, they was abolished the “Office for the Protection of State Secrets in the Press” under the State Committee for Press of the Republic of Uzbekistan, designed to perform the functions of media censorship in the country. Have the media in Uzbekistan become independent after this? Absolutely not! The role of Erkin Komilov, head of the abolished agency, is shared between thousands of editors of newspapers, magazines , radio and television.

Did the government of Uzbekistan comply with 22 recommendations of Mr. Theo van Boven , the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture , who in 2002 inspected the prisons in Uzbekistan and issued a report in February 2003? No! Was the brutal torture in police stations, pre-trial detention centers and prisons stopped after this? No, a thousand times no!

I think it is time for the international democratic community should understand fake policy Uzbek authorities, stop flirting with them for the good of democracy, human rights and decent living of the people of Uzbekistan.

Ozoda Yakubova,

Wife of prominent imprisoned Uzbek human rights activist Azam Farmonov

October 30, 2013