KAZAKHSTAN: CONVERSATION WITH UZBEK HUMAN RIGHTS

C O N F I D E N T I A L ALMATY 002121

SIPDIS


DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/CACEN; TBILISI FOR REFCOORD CHEEVER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/06/2015
TAGS: KZ MOPS PHUM UZ POLITICAL
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: CONVERSATION WITH UZBEK HUMAN RIGHTS
ACTIVIST LUTFULLO SHAMSIDDINOV

REF: A. A) TASHKENT 1544

B. B) TASHKENT 1537

C. C) TASHKENT 1536

D. D) TASHKENT 1446

E. E) IIR 6 955 0183 05

Classified By: CDA Mark Asquino, reasons 1.4 (B) and (D).


1. (C) Summary: POEC chief met with Uzbek human rights
activist Lutfullo Shamsiddinov (refs A-C) and his wife on
June 2 to discuss their efforts to obtain refugee status in
Kazakhstan. Shamsiddinov, who is from Andijon and witnessed
the killing of civilians there on May 13, also briefed POEC
chief on what he saw. He estimated that up to 300 people,
only 25 of whom were armed, were killed on Cholpon Street the
evening of May 13.

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Seeking Asylum
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2. (C) As reported ref A, Uzbek human rights activist
Lutfullo Shamsiddinov fled with his family to Kazakhstan on
May 26. They reached Almaty on May 27 and immediately
contacted UNHCR to request refugee status. UNHCR protection
officer Narasimha Rao told POEC chief on May 31 that due to
the political sensitivity of the case and the fact that the
Kazakhstani Department of Migration had expressed reluctance
to take the lead, UNHCR would make the refugee determination
itself. After Shamsiddinov's first in-depth interview with
UNHCR on June 3, Rao told POEC chief that Shamsiddinov's
claim to refugee status appeared clear due to his activities
in Andijon May 13-14 and the fact that he is a known human
rights activist. Rao indicated that it might take less than
two weeks to make the determination.


3. (C) In a June 2 meeting with POEC chief, Shamsiddinov
expressed concern that Kazakhstani authorities might return
him and the six members of his family to Uzbekistan. They
have rented an apartment and registered with immigration
authorities as required by law. Although they have had no
problems with Kazakhstani authorities to date, Shamsiddinov
said that he has reason to believe that at an upcoming
'summit' (most likely the June 3 meeting of SCO Security
Council heads in Astana),the GOU will ask the GOK to return
him. He is particularly concerned because UNHCR has not yet
issued him any documents proving that he is seeking refugee
status. He asked if there was any way for his family to be
sent to a third country to await the determination.

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Shamsiddinov's Involvement
--------------


4. (C) Shamsiddinov, of the Independent Human Rights Society
of Uzbekistan, told POEC chief that he had monitored the
trial in Andijon of the 23 Islamic businessmen charged with
anti-constitutional activity and extremism, the Akromiylar.
He stressed that the friends and relatives of the accused who
observed the trial each day had behaved in a completely
orderly way throughout the proceedings. Shamsiddinov
asserted that the presiding judge had received instructions
from above to find the accused guilty, but had demonstrated
that she did not think the charges were founded by handing
down sentences that were less strict than usual for extremism
cases. He claimed that such cases usually brought a minimum
sentence of five years; in this case, three of the Akromiylar
had been freed, one had been paroled, and 13 had been
sentenced to only three years imprisonment. The remaining
six defendants had received five, six, or seven year terms.

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May 13 Events in Andijon
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5. (C) Shamsiddinov said that when he learned of the attacks
on the morning of May 13, he went to the oblast
administration building (hokhimyat). That morning he saw
five or six dead bodies on the street near SNB headquarters
and the hokhimyat, including both militia and civilians, and
several burned out vehicles. At the hokhimyat he saw armed
people in civilian clothes, and two to three thousand people
(including women and children) gathered in the square.
People took turns speaking about hard economic times, the
unfair justice system, abusive tax inspections, and beatings


by the security forces. Several wives whose husbands had
been imprisoned on extremism charges complained of the shame
of being forced to clean houses or work abroad to feed their
families. Shamsiddinov stressed that he did not hear one
political statement during the speeches, only complaints of
mistreatment by authorities.


6. (C) Many of the people with weapons were the Akromiylar,
men he recognized immediately from having attended their
trial. Shamsiddinov said that he rebuked them for using
force instead of waiting for the appeals process and the
results of the peaceful protests.


7. (C) By mid-day on May 13, according to Shamsiddinov, the
militia had practically abandoned the center of Andijon and
many residents were out in the streets. He estimated that
50,000 to 100,000 people were in the streets within a three
kilometer radius of the main square. He claimed that militia
and MVD forces fired on people three to four times from noon
to 14:00, killing 20 to 30 people in the vicinity of the
hokhimyat. Negotiations were then held from 14:00 to 16:00.
By that evening, he said, approximately 15,000 people had
gathered on the square. At some point after the negotiations
ended, the crowd in the square divided and approximately 2000
people left the northern side of the square by Cholpon St.
Shamsiddinov said he was standing on Cholpon St. in front of
School No. 15, across the street from a movie theater, when
he saw the crowd approaching (see ref D, para 9, and ref E,
para. 9). At the front were 13 government officials who were
being held hostage; they included the presiding judge from
the Akromiylar case, a militia member, a procurator, an SNB
representative, and a tax inspector. There were also
approximately 25 Akromiylar members with guns, and about 2000
civilians, including women and children.


8. (C) According to Shamsiddinov, two armored personnel
carriers parked just north of School No. 15 on Cholpon St.
opened fire on the crowd at 18:15. He ran into an alley on
the south side of School No. 15 but stayed close enough to
the street to see the shooting. Shamsiddinov claimed that
the Akromiylar members tried to shoot back in self-defense,
but did not know how to use the weapons they had seized and
were killed relatively quickly. He said that the BTRs
continued to fire on the crowd as people attempted to flee.
The large caliber weapons inflicted severe damage. He
estimated that 300 people were killed.


9. (C) Shamsiddinov said he went back to the scene of the
shooting early the morning of May 14. He gathered spent
cartridges from the BTRs, some approximately one inch long
and some two inches long, as evidence. His associate
Saidjahon Zainabitdinov later displayed these cartridges in a
television interview with Western media before his arrest.
Shamsiddinov said that he saw government officials load four
trucks and one bus with bodies; many of them were women and
children. They left the bodies of 17 "young and strong" men
with weapons in the street, presumably, he said, to give the
impression that only "terrorists" had been killed.
Shamsiddinov said he thought that many of the bodies had
already been collected before he returned on May 14. The
street was covered in blood.

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Decision to Flee
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10. (C) Over the course of the day on May 13, Shamsiddinov
had been reporting what he saw to Western media outlets and
embassies. Some of the media outlets had quoted him by name,
and his associate Zainabitdinov had been shown on television.
Shamsiddinov said he began to hear of GOU threats against
witnesses, and decided to flee with some members of his
family. He initially went to Osh, Kyrgyzstan, but they were
not admitted into the refugee camp and could into find
anywhere to stay. They spent one night on the streets and
then returned to Andijon. Zainabitdinov was arrested when
trying to return to Uzbekistan. Shamsiddinov believes he
escaped detection only because he used a different border
crossing point (Kara Sov) and was accompanied by his family.
ASQUINO


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