According to the Uzbek service of Radio BBC, the Uzbek authorities passed the body of religious prisoner Abdurakhim Tukhtasinov to his relatives on the night of June 18 and demanded burying him secretly.

On June 20, the Uzbek service of Radio BBC reported referring to the regional website of the party “Hizb-ut-Tahrir” that the Uzbek authorities passed the body of religious prisoner Abdurakhim Tukhtasinov to his relatives on the night of June 18 and demanded burying him hurriedly.The authorities also demanded that Tukhtasinov’s relatives should bury the deceased secretly.

BBC radio journalists managed to get in touch with one of the activists of the party “Hizb ut-Tahrir” Islam Abu Khalil, who in turn said that according to relatives of the deceased,traces of severe torturewere found on AbdurakhimTukhtasinov’s body.

“They ordered Abdurakhim’s relatives to bury his body early in the morning in a small circle of people not letting the community know,” said the statement published on the website of the party.

Forty-three-year-old Abdurakhim Tukhtasinov originated from the city of Andizhan was arrested eight years ago in February 2006 by the National Security Service of Uzbekistan on his way from Tashkentto Andizhan. The Uzbek authorities accused him of attempts to overthrow the constitutional order, and sentenced him to long imprisonment.

According to members of “Hizb-ut-Tahrir”, Abdurakhim Tokhtasinov was the party leader in Uzbekistan.

“For several years, Abdurakhim head activities of Hizb-ut-Tahrir in Uzbekistan. He revealed crimes of the regime of bloodthirsty Karimov against Muslims in Uzbekistan,” says the website.

According to “Hizb-ut-Tahrir” members,brutal torture swere used against Abdurakhim Tokhtasinov in custody.

It should be noted that activities of religious party “Hizb ut-Tahrir” are prohibited in all countries of Central Asia and Russiatherefore the security services of these countries constantly harass and persecutemembers of the given party.

At all international human rights events, representatives of the official Tashkent refute use of torture and ill-treatment in prisons in Uzbekistan.

However, only in the last year Uzbek human rights activists have documented three cases of deceases of prisoners convicted in Uzbekistan on religious grounds, who died under torture.

Thirty-six-year-old Tavakkalbek Khodzhiyev died in Navoi colony 64/47 36-year-old on November 18, 2013. He was convicted on charges of involvement in the Andizhan events. The prison administration informed his family members that he died on November 15 following a heart attack. However, representatives of the Uzbek security forces that brought Khodzhiyev’s body to his parents’ house did not allow his relatives to see the body. The Uzbek security services controlled even the washing process of the corpse and did not allow anybody in.

In October 2013, another inmate, 35-year-old Samariddin Salokhiddinov convicted on religious grounds, was killed under torture in Zarafshan prison. Samariddin’s relatives told local human rights defenders that he died of severe torture, his arms and legs were broken and his skull was swollen and his body was disfigured.

Khusniddin Okkuziev,a 32-year-old resident of Kashkadarya province, died as a result of brutal torture used by representatives of the Chiroqchi district police department. Law enforcers accused him of disorderly conduct against the woman named Dilfuza Botirova on 17 May 2013, and took him to the local police station for interrogation. But the young man never was released.

When Okkuziev’s family members were given his body, they found many traces of torture on his body. Khusniddin’s elder brother Fakhriddin Okkuziev told human rights activists that the thumb and the nails on his brother’s right leg were broken, the whole stomach was bruised, four fingers on his left leg were sutured, and the neck and left arm were bruised and cut.

In late October 2013, when the UN Committee against Torture reviewed the report of the Uzbek authorities to implement the UN Convention on the prohibition of torture, the experts of the Committee stated that torture is systematically and commonly practiced in this country. In response, head of the Uzbek delegation Akmal Saidov said that “the country’s law prohibits torture, and therefore none of Uzbek officials daresto violate this law.”

Currently, “Fiery Hearts Club” International Human Rights Organization is preparing a list of persons died of tortures used by law enforcement bodies of Uzbekistan against people in custody, detention centers and prisons. The list will be shortly posted on Jarayon’s website.

Mubina SAFAROVA