To Mr.Thomas Kunze, regional authorized representative of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Uzbekistan/Central Asia.

Dear Mr.Thomas Kunze!

Fiery Hearts Club is an international human rights organization registered in the prefecture of Paris (France) in 2011, which deals with issues of rights and freedoms in Uzbekistan.

One of the priorities of Fiery Hearts Club is prevention of tortures and other cruel, inhuman or dignity degrading treatments and punishments in Uzbekistan.

In late October 2013, the UN Committee against Torture in Geneva (Switzerland) has a regular scheduled discussion on the human rights situation in Uzbekistan.

The authorities of the Republic of Uzbekistan provided thier report on the situation and accomplished activities in this area in response to questions raised by the UN Committee against Torture.

In the given report, the Uzbek authorities said that “The authorized representative of the Oliy Majlis (National Parliament) of the Republic of Uzbekistan for Human Rights visits places of detention together with representatives of international non-governmental organizations to ensure rights of prisoners and familiarize with terms of imprisonments.”

Despite the fact that the report of the Uzbek authorities provided “international non-governmental organizations” in the plural, only one international non-governmental organization – the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, is mentioned in the table, which shows dates, places, facilities as well as organizations, which visited places of imprisonment.

In this regard, Fiery Hearts Club international human rights organization appeals to you, as the authorized representative of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, with the questions, that have serious significance both for lives of thousands of people and for building of a rule-of-law state.

We very much hope that the Konrad Adenauer Foundation will kindly provide sincere answers to our questions as soon as possible.

1. The Charter of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, operating both inside and outside Uzbekistan, does not mention monitoring penitentiary facilities? Also we do not know cases, when representation of the Foundation in other countries conducted monitoring of places of detention. Although the report of the Uzbek authorities said that joint visits to the penal facilities together with representatives of your foundation began in 2011 and continued in 2012 and 2013. Based on this, the question arises how does the Konrad Adenauer Foundation’s mission accord with visiting places of detention in Uzbekistan, and what was the reason for changes in activities of the Foundation?

2. Mr. Thomas Kunze, we would also like to know your official opinion why the authorized representative of the Oliy Majlis for Human Rights and other government agencies of the Republic of Uzbekistan prefer cooperation only with the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and no one else to monitor penitentiary facilities? In fact, it is known that the Foundation is not specialized in monitoring of prisons and does not possess necessary skills whereas there are professional international organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross as well as others that are not allowed yet by the authorities of the country to conduct monitoring of penal institutions.

We welcome the fact that the Konrad Adenauer Foundation considers it is useful to provide assistance in establishing a legal and humane situation in penal institutions of Uzbekistan.

However, according to the report of the Uzbek authorities, which was presented to the UN Committee against Torture, in the last three years (2011-2013) the Konrad Adenauer Foundation has managed to conduct monitoring of twelve penitentiary facilities in Uzbekistan. Here, we have a few questions:

– What is the Konrad Adenauer Foundation’s assessment of the situation of prisons in Uzbekistan?

– Does the Konrad Adenauer Foundation agree with assessments of the Uzbek authorities or not? If you do not agree, we ask you to kidnly provide more details what the Foundation does not agree with in regard of the assessments of the Uzbek authorities?

– Has the Konrad Adenauer Foundation released in writing its own articles, papers, audio and video reports on the situation in twelve penal institutions of Uzbekistan? If not, whether the Foundation is going to prepare its own reports on this situation in the country?

Dear Mr. Thomas Kunze, Fiery Hearts Club international human rights organization and other international human rights organizations that work closely with us in improving the human rights situation in Uzbekistan will look forward to having your responses to our questions.

Sincerely,

Mutabar Tadjibayeva,

Head of Fiery Hearts Club international human rights organization

Paris, France

January 14, 2014