Family members of Ulugbek Ostonov, extradited from Almaty to Tashkent in 2011, including 29 Muslim refugees, have expressed concerns about his life.

A few days ago relatives of Ulugbek Ostonov appealed to Mutabar Tadjibayeva, the head of “Fiery Hearts Club” international human rights organization. Ulugbek Ostonov is a young man, who was among the 29 Uzbek Muslim refugees extradited to Uzbekistan by the Kazakh authorities in the summer of 2011.

According to them, Ulugbek Ostonov’s whereabouts have remained unknown since December 2013.

“Until December 2013, Ulugbek Ostonov was kept in Zhaslyq colony (Colony 64/71 is located in the village of Zhaslyq, Kungrad district of the Autonomous Republic of Karakalpakstan – “Jarayon”). Later on, we found out that he was moved to Tashkent. There is only his elder sister in Uzbekistan. Last time, Ulugbek called his sister in December and said “Do not come to visit me anymore, otherwise I will have problems.” After that nobody has heard from Ulugbek.

We asked his sister to start searching for her brother, but she lives in poverty, and says she does not have money to start looking for her brother. Ulugbek has had rheumatism, his health has been poor; we are very concerned about his fate. After all, people cannot just disappear in prison only because he or she does not have family members, who would be interested in his or her fate. Please, help us find him,” Ulugbek Ostonov’s family members ask human rights activist Mutabar Tadjibayeva.

Fiery Hearts Club international human rights organization suggests that in December 2013, Ulugbek Ostonov called his older sister from Detention Center 64/1 of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Uzbekistan, or so-called Tashkent prison, which receives Muslim prisoners from all over the country in order to obtain necessary testimonies under tortures and pressure.

Ulugbek Ostonov, his wife Shakhlo Zhalolova and their three young children lived in Almaty for several years searching asylum. However, after Ulugbek Ostonov and the other Uzbek Muslim refugees were extradited to Tashkent, his wife Shakhlo Zhalolova was forced to leave Kazakhstan because of pressure and persecution of the Kazakh special services. Currently, the woman and the children live in one of the democratic countries.

Law enforcers of Almaty arrested 29 Uzbek Muslim refugees in the summer of 2010 following a request of the Prosecutor General and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Uzbekistan. The 29 Uzbek Muslim refugees had been persecuted by Uzbek special services for their religious beliefs and had had to seek refuge in Kazakhstan.

The Uzbek side had accused them of committing grave and gravest crimes, including terrorism, creation and participation in extremist, separatist, fundamentalist or other banned organizations as well as of murder and creation and participation in criminal associations. The arrested Muslim refugees denied all these allegations.

For a whole year, these people were kept in detention centers in Almaty. There were several trials in Kazakh courts in respect to the 29 Uzbek Muslim refugees, and at the end the Kazakh court ordered to extradite them to Uzbekistan, and thus became a part of the conveyor which falsified their cases.

In summer 2011, the 29 Muslim Uzbek refugees were extradited to Uzbekistan, and many of them were sentenced to long prison terms.

In June 2012, the UN Committee against Torture made a decision that Kazakhstan, having extradited the Uzbek refugees to Tashkent, violated its international human rights obligations because previously respected international human rights organizations had repeatedly stated that prisoners in Uzbek prisons are systematically tortured and inhumanely treated.

The UN Committee against Torture demanded that the Kazakh authorities should provide the 29 extradited Uzbek Muslim refugees with appropriate protection, including their return to Kazakhstan and compensations.

In August 2013, the General Prosecutor’s Office of Kazakhstan reported that a group of Kazakh diplomats were sent to Uzbekistan to visit 18 of 29 extradited Muslim refugees in prison, who, according to the Kazakh Prosecutor General’s Office, were satisfied with the conditions in imprisonment, and they did not complain about tortures or other degrading treatment.

In addition, the Kazakh Prosecutor General’s Office reported to the UN Committee against Torture the following: “due to investigations in respect of the other 7 extradited persons (including Ulugbek Ostonov – “Jarayon”), following a request of the Uzbek side, visits to the prisoners had been postponed. Additional information will be sent to the Committee upon receipt of relevant information from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan”.

Seven months have passed since then, but the Kazakh authorities have not informed yet the Committee about the fate of the remaining 7 extradited Uzbek Muslim refugees. It seems that the Kazakh authorities need to visit these extradited Uzbek Muslim refugees only for reporting to the UN Committee against Torture.

Prior to the meetings of Kazakh diplomats with some of the extradited persons, relatives of Muslim refugees had told Jarayon that persons extradited from Kazakhstan were most cruelly tortured in Uzbek prisons, and their conditions of detention in prison remained harsh. In addition, their relatives asked human rights defenders to convey to the UN Committee against Torture about the difficult situation of the extradited Uzbek Muslim refugees.

Mutabar Tadjibayeva, the head of “Fiery Hearts Club” international human rights organization, believes that the concerns of the people who asked her to help determine whereabouts of Ulugbek Ostonov are quite reasonable.

The human rights activist said that she has already submitted a letter to the UN Committee on Human Rights, the UN Committee against Torture and ACAT French human rights organization to call them to use their mandates and to help determine the exact location and position of Ulugbek Ostonov(organization of Christian activists against Torture; in 2010, ACAT and “Fiery Hearts Club”sent a complaint to the UN Committee against Torture on behalf of the 29 extradited Uzbek Muslim refugees – Jarayon).

“Based on my practice, I know that if nobody cares about a person in jail, he or she may easily disappear in the penitentiary system of Uzbekistan, or may die due to ongoing tortures, poor nutrition and medical care, and widespread tuberculosis among prisoners. Moreover, the status of Ulugbek Ostonov as one “extradited from a foreign country as a religious extremist” only exacerbates our worst fears about his fate”.

Therefore, I believe that using their mandates, the UN Committee on Human Rights and the UN Committee against Torture should help determine the exact location and the condition of Ulugbek Ostonov. The Ostonovs have a right to know and the Uzbek authorities should inform them whether Ulugbek Ostonov was convicted after his extradition to Tashkent in 2011 and if so, where he is kept and what his condition is at the moment,” Tadjibayeva told “Jarayon”.

Sofia DAVRONOVA