According to “Memorial” Human Rights Center, Muslim refugee Ablakhat Itakhunov, wanted in Uzbekistan on “Islamic extremism” charges, has been kept in an investigation cell in Bishkek for more than 7 months waiting for a decision.

According to “Memorial” Human Rights Center based in Moscow, 42-year-old Russian citizen Ablakhat Itakhunov was detained by the Kyrgyzstan National Security Committee on November 28, 2013 in the town of Kara-Balta as he was internationallywanted. Since then, he has been in custody, and the period of his detention has been repeatedly extended.

“Kyrgyzstan Prosecutor General’s Office has not made a decision on his extraditionyet. However, the immigration authorities have rejected his asylum application referring to the applicant’s Russian citizenship. In March 2014,Itakhunov was transferred from Kyrgyzstan National Security Committee’sdetention facility to the city detention facility # 1 in Bishkek. There he has serious health problems, however, according to the lawyer, no medical care is available to Itakhunov,” said Vitaly Ponomarev, the Central Asia ProgrammeDirector of “Memorial” Human Rights Center.

According to him, on November 30, 2013 Pervomaisk district court in Bishkek sanctioned Ablakhat Itakhunov’s arrest in Bishkek, a month later, the Bishkek City Court confirmed the decision and left it unchanged. The human rights activist says attempts to change the decision have not brought any results.

Ablakhat Itakhunov, an ethnic Uighur, was born and lived in Chui province, Kyrgyzstan,for several years. But after his father’s death in 1993, he moved to Uzbekistan to his mother’s homeland. In Uzbekistan, Itakhunov lived in a village in Samarkand province. Later on he moved to Tashkent province seeking employment.

In 1994, Ablakhat Itakhunov was granted a residence permit in Uzbekistan as a stateless person. He worked at construction sites. In 2001-2004, he voluntarily participated in the construction of the central mosque in the town of Chirchiq, Tashkent province.

“Since childhood, Ablakhathas performed namaz, adhering to Hanafi madhhab,traditional for Central Asian. After his participation in the mosque construction in Chirchiq, the National Security Service of Uzbekistan(NSS) kept summoning him. NSS representatives wondered what purposes Muslim Itakhunov had to move from Kyrgyzstan to Uzbekistan. However, nothing wrong was found in regard to his behavior,” said Vitaly Ponomarev.

According to him, in August 2006 Ablakhat Itakhunov obtained Russian citizenshipthrough the Russian embassy in Uzbekistan. A year later the local policeman took Itakhunov to the local NSS department.

“There Ablakhat was told that they “received materials” about his affiliation to a banned religious group. After he was beaten and threatened, he was forced ​​to sign a repentancestatement. When Itakhunov said he had done nothing illegal, an NSS officer replied: “If you had done, you would not have come out of here.”

A day or two after this “conversation”, Itakhunov went to the city of Almaty, and then in July 2007 he moved to Kyrgyzstan to join his relatives. In August 2007,he visited Uzbekistan to bring his family back, and since then he had lived in the town of in Kara-Baltawith his wife, a citizen of Uzbekistan, and two daughters. In 2008, he made a pilgrimage, and annually went to Uzbekistan with his family,” said Vitaly Ponomarev.

Ablakhat Itakhunov’s friends Alisher Buranov and GayratSmanov were arrested in the town of Chirchiq in 2010. According to human rights activists, they were forced to testify against Itakhunov as the head of an illegal religious group allegedly created in 2005.

After that on 22 October 2010,investigator M.Edgorovfrom Chirchiq police office announced Ablakhat Itakhunov wanted based on article 159, part 1 (anti-constitutional attempts) and article 244-2, part 1 (participation in banned religious extremist organization) of the Uzbekistan Criminal Code.

“After his passport expired at the end of 2011,Itakhunov appealed to the Russian embassy in Kyrgyzstan, but for 9 monthshe was repeatedly told that “his passport was not ready yet.” On 27 Sept 2012, the day after he called the Russian Embassy, two policemen, who introduced themselves as members of the local Interpol office, visited Itakhunov. They showed him documents about his search, and told him that Russia has allegedly agreed to his arrest.

They escorted Itakhunov to a police station in Bishkek, where he was asked for bribe of US $4,500 for his release. By the evening, after the money was collected and delivered to the police, Ablakhat was released. The police officers advised him to change his place of residence as his address was already known in Tashkent,” said Vitaly Ponomarev.

Later Ablakhat Itakhunov managed to contact Kyrgyz human rights activists Akin Toktaliev and Sherik Moldobekov. Supported by them, he appealed to the refugee department of the Ministry of Labour,Migration and Youth, and on 25 July 2013 he was granted an asylum seekercertificate.

However, according to Vitaly Ponomarev, therewere serious legal violationsin Ablakhat Itakhunov’s case.

“In particular, his arrest and detention in Kyrgyzstan in connection with the search initiated by Uzbekistan was justified by the Kyrgyzstan National Security Committee and the Kyrgyz courts with references to Kishinev Convention on legal assistance and legal relations in civil, family and criminal cases dated 2002. However, Uzbekistanhas not joinedthis convention yet, so the convention cannot regulate relations in criminal matters between the two countries.

In addition, according to the prosecution, Itakhunov allegedly “promoted and gave instructions to members of the group about establishment of ‘Islamic Caliphate’ prohibited by the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan, and advocated overthrow of the existing constitutional order and seizure of power and change of the territorial integrity of the Republic of Uzbekistan.”

Some of these formulations are clearly questionable. Moreover, there are not any specific episodes about illegal activities in the materials received from Uzbekistan incriminating Itakhunov. The documents did not specify which government structure made the decision to ban the organization, which Itakhunov allegedly heads. I doubt that such a decision exists at all,” said Vitaly Ponomarev.

As for Ablakhat Itakhunov, he categorically rejects all the accusations, considering them to be fabricated.

On December 17, the General Prosecutor’s Office of Uzbekistan sent the Kyrgyz side a formal request to extradite Russian citizen Ablakhat Itakhunov to Tashkent. A year later, the immigration authorities of Kyrgyzstan issued a decision to refuse grantinga refugee status to Itakhunov as he has Russian citizenship. This decision was supported by the Bishkek City Court.

Ponomarev said that all requests to the Russian authorities regarding the case of Ablakhat Itakhunov have not brought any positive results as Russian officials have not shown any interest to take steps to protect the rights of a citizen of the Russian Federation.

“A representative of the consular department of the Russian Embassy in Kyrgyzstan visited the detaineeonly once at the end of February 2014 to tellhim that he could not provide any assistance to him and encouraged him to contact the consular department of the Russian Embassy in Uzbekistan, where, in his opinion, he will be sent to,” said Vitaly Ponomarev.

Currently, the human rights activists engaged in the case of Muslim refugee Ablakhat Itakhunov believe that only appeals to international organizations allowed slowing down the process of forcible extradition of the asylum seeker to Uzbekistan.

In addition, the human rights defenders believe that if Ablakhat Itakhunov is extradited to Uzbekistan, he may be tortured and sentenced to a long-term imprisonment based on dubious “extremism” charges.

Guzal AKHMEDOVA