It became known that an amnesty was declared on 12 December 2013 in Uzbekistan on the occasion of the 21st anniversary of the Uzbek Constitution.

Several civil society activists were released from prisons at the end of the 2013 and the beginning of 2014, who were imprisoned based on fabricated and trumped-up charges.

However, according to local and international human rights activists, the authorities still keep thousands of people convicted on political and religious grounds in the most brutal colonies and prisons of the country.

In his interview with Jarayon, Talib Yakubov, the honorary president of the International Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan, who now resides in exile in France, speaks about the recently announced amnesty in Uzbekistan and the reasons why the government of Uzbekistan annually deprives many political prisoners of the possibility to use the right for amnesty.

Jarayon: Mr. Yakubov, I would like to start our interview with a question related to the amnesty declared on 12 December 2013 on the occasion of the 21st anniversary of the Uzbek Constitution. How do you think this amnesty differs from those that were declared in the country in previous years?

Talib Yakubov: In the condition of the absolutely repressive judicial, law enforcement and penitentiary system, we should be glad when any prisoner is released from prison no matter whether he or she is a politician, human rights activist, journalist, businessman, farmer, etc. It does not matter, who this person is as freedom is the greatest value. I am sincerely happy that Mamadali Makhmudov, Nematzhon Sadykov, Nabizhon Zhurabaev, Khasan Choriyev were released. None of them committed any crimes against the society and the homeland. Each of them, or their family members, in due time exercised their constitutional rights to express their thoughts, wrote true historical novels, defended human rights or led an opposition movement. I will say this again that these scare and annoy the repressive power, and push it to apply force and judicial injustice.

But thousands of other political prisoners are kept imprisoned – representatives of the opposition, human rights activists, journalists, prisoners of conscience, who were convicted for their religious beliefs, businessmen… Not only that they are innocent and were convicted unjustly and illegally, moreover the authorities are not willing to amnesty them, and secretly fabricate more charges accusing them of violation of internal prison rules. Therefore, all acts of amnesty undertaken for all the years of independence of the country are similar like twins. This is how the authoritarian government protects itself.

Jarayon: It is known that such civil society activists of Uzbekistan as Nematzhon Sadykov (Fergana), Nabizhon Zhurabaev (Jizzakh), father of Birdamlik opposition movement leader Khasan Choriyev (Kashkadaryo) were amnestied this year. Well-known Uzbek writer Mamadali Makhmudov was released in April 2013 after he spent fourteen years in prison. Some observers say that the above mentioned persons were released from imprisonment due to their advanced age. However, dozens of other political and religious prisoners have been languishing in Uzbek prisons for several years, including elderly and sick people. So why do you think the Uzbek authorities still keep them imprisoned every year and they are not subject to amnesty?

Talib Yakubov: Unfortunately, not tens, but thousands of religious prisoners remain behind bars. Hundreds of them were tortured during investigations as well as in penal colonies. There is even no information about some religious scholars like Abduvali-kori Mirzayev after arrests. The authorities have so great hatred for Muslims that they send their killers after them to other countries for assassination. And the authorities of Uzbekistan justify such a vile policy by alleged preservation of stability in the country.

On this occasion, I cannot help recalling the words of Benjamin Franklin, who wrote: “Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.” The cemeterial “stability” in Uzbekistan that the authorities present to their citizens and the world community as a real stability is fundamentally wrong. There is the saying in the East “Be afraid of a quiet man”. The world experience shows a nation loses patience without freedom, without decent life.

Many sick and elderly people in the penitentiary colonies are a clear sign that the ruling political regime is inhumane and misanthropic, which the authorities created from the first days they came into power. Try and remember the shootings of students in 1992, the shootings of the population in 1990-91 in Namangan, Kokand, Buka, Parkent, Denau, the shootings in 2005 in Andizhan, terrorist attacks planned and carried out by the secret services of the regime in 1999 and 2004 in Tashkent. This is why the authorities purposefully created unbearable prison conditions in the penitentiary colonies: poor sanitation, lice, poor nutrition, forced, harassing and slave labor, brutal beatings exercised by sadistic prison guards, etc.

Jarayon: Mr.Yakubov, my next question concerns Azam Farmonov, your son-in-law, the husband of your daughter Ozoda, the chairman of Syrdarya regional branch of the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan, who has been kept in Zhaslyq for the last eight years, one of the most brutal colonies of Uzbekistan. When did your daughter Ozoda Yakubov see her husband last time, and what is his current status now?

Talib Yakubov: Today, on 17 January 2014, she goes to visit her husband. Consequently, Ozoda visited Zhaslyq in October 2013. Then she came back from her trip in a depressing mood, and sent a complaint to Abdukarim Shodiev, the head of the Chief Directorate for the Enforcement of Punishments, the Deputy Interior Minister. The complaint was about UYA 64/71, where rights of prisoners and their relatives in regard to their telephone conversations are grossly violated. She also mentioned about appalling conditions for visits, about problems associated with personal hygiene of prisoners, about delivery of parcels and packages.

Mr.Shodiev remains true to himself – he does not respond to such complaints. Over the years, my daughter has sent him more than ten complaints, but he never responded to them. With all this, at the end of October 2013 in Geneva at the session of the UN Committee against Torture, he passionately spoke about something else, saying that everything is ok in the GUIN system, and there are no problems there! There he also mentioned my son-in-law Azam Farmonov, and shamelessly lied. His lies videotaped at the session, was posted on the Internet and seen and heard by millions of people worldwide.

Jarayon: Mr.Yakubov, in late October 2013, Jarayon website posted the appeal of Ozoda Yakubova addressed to Patrizianna Sparacino-Thiellay, Human Rights Ambassador of France, who secretly from independent journalists and human rights activists had a meeting with representatives of the Uzbek authorities in Tashkent. In particular, Ozoda Yakubova asked the Ambassador for Human Rights a few questions, including questions about destinies of political prisoners, forced labor of citizens of Uzbekistan in the cotton fields of the country, and the destiny of Azam Farmonov. My question is if Ozoda Yakubov could get answers to her questions from Ms. Patrizianna Sparacino-Thiellay? If yes, in what context, if not, why do you think the ambassador avoided answering the questions?

Talib Yakubov: Three years ago, I wrote a letter to Mr. Bernard Kouchner, the Prime Minister of France, when he headed the Council of the European Union, urging him to address the issue of political prisoners in Uzbekistan, and 20 days later I received a written response from him with his signature. Unfortunately, Ms.Patrizianna Sparacino-Thiellay has not responded yet to the statement of my daughter Ozoda although she is the Ambassador for Human Rights at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France. I do not know how the French Foreign Ministry deals with appeals of French citizens as well as those of citizens from other countries. Since France is one of the leading democracies in the world, then, in theory, it should not divide people into “us” and “them”. Therefore, I do not understand the position of Ms. Patrizianna Sparacino-Thiellay in this matter, although the post of Ambassador for Human Rights obliges her to be more delicate in such matters.

On the other hand, it appeared that Ms. Patrizianna Sparacino-Thiellay, while participating in the Tashkent international conference organized by the National Centre for Human Rights of the Republic of Uzbekistan and led by Akmal Saidov, did not manage to find time to meet with Uzbek human rights defenders, from whom she could learn about the situation of political prisoners in Uzbekistan. After all, any self-respecting human rights activist primarily protects rights of political prisoners, and the scope of activities of Ms.Patrizianna Sparacino-Thiellay is precisely protection of human rights. Going to an “unknown” country for the first time, she, being one of those responsible for human rights in the French government, could have found time before her trip to somehow get familiarized with the human rights situation in Uzbekistan. At least, she could have familiarized with the report of Mr. Theo van Boven, a Special Rapporteur on Torture, the UN Committee against Torture or the findings of the given Committee and the UN Committee on Human Rights on the situation in Uzbekistan. Of course, there may be other reasons why Ms. Patrizianna Sparacino-Thiellay did not want to meet with Uzbek human rights defenders.

The thing is that recently there has been the dominance of “big politics”, in other words, the first priority is the issue of the withdrawal of NATO troops from Afghanistan, and a special role in this regard is given to Uzbekistan. It is quite clear that the Uzbek authorities, based on their interests, raise their demands before the anti-Afghan coalition. At the moment, the most important interest of the government of Uzbekistan is not to touch upon the issue of human rights. The European Union, as one of Uzbek journalists said, surrendered to the authorities of Uzbekistan long ago, though after the Andizhan massacre it imposed sanctions against the government of this state.

Jarayon: As noted earlier, the Uzbek authorities released from prisons several people at the end of the 2013 and the beginning of 2014, whose names were mentioned by international human rights organizations on the list of political prisoners. By this action, the authorities allegedly showed their humaneness. Observers note that in the future during human rights activities in Europe, the authorities will certainly mention this as their achievements in improving the human rights situation in the country. What do you think the government of Uzbekistan should really do to display true humaneness towards people, who were convicted for political and religious reasons, and have been tortured for many years?

Talib Yakubov: The authorities, which shoot their people, have one of the most repressive justices in the world, and put thousands of innocent people into prisons, do not have humaneness. Such authorities have excessive blatant lies, shameless vainglory and heartless callousness. The Uzbek authorities have lots of such things. In Uzbekistan, this has become an axiom a long time ago.

The Uzbek authorities give instructions to their speakers such as Akmal Saidov to yell and bang the table during international sessions and meetings so that international organizations listen to their lies and boasting. Thus, Akmal Saidov performed brilliantly in Geneva on 30 October, 2013.

The fish habitat is water, and it dies taken out of such environment. The “habitat” of the Uzbek authorities are:

1) widespread electricity and gas cutoffs not only in the warm season, but also in winter time;

2) widespread use of doctors, teachers , university and school students on cotton plantations for cotton harvesting,

3) highest corruption in state structures;

4) tortures and abuses in police stations, investigative bodies and penal colonies;

5) overall unemployment in the country, at least five million Uzbek migrant workers are in Russia, Kazakhstan, South Korea and other regions of the country. It will not do to deprive the power in Uzbekistan of this bouquet of “successes”, in other words, of such habitat, otherwise it will immediately die. And who wants to die?

Jarayon: Mr.Yakubov, thank you for the interview.

The interview is prepared by Sofia DAVRONOVA