KYRGYZ TRIAL OF ALLEGED AKRAMIA MEMBERS BEGINS

C O N F I D E N T I A L BISHKEK 001373 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/27/2016 TAGS: PGOV PREL PREF PHUM KDEM KG SUBJECT: KYRGYZ TRIAL OF ALLEGED AKRAMIA MEMBERS BEGINS REF: A. BISHKEK 1091 ¶B. BISHKEK 1102 Classified By: Ambassador Marie L. Yovanovitch, Reason 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (SBU) The Kyrgyz trial of Gulmira Maksudova, registered Uzbek refugee and daughter of Akramia founder, Akram Yuldashev, and three other alleged Akramia members (two Kyrgyz and one Uzbek national),started September 27 in Osh. The four were taken into custody on July 19, charged with illegally possessing ammunition, counterfeiting Kyrgyz passports and plotting terrorist attacks (Ref A). Their defense lawyer, Kubanychbek Joroev, told the court that the four on trial are innocent of all charges save, possibly, for passport fraud. According to Joroev, Maksudova and the other Uzbek national were forced to use fraudulent Kyrgyz passports in order to flee certain repression in Uzbekistan, due to their supposed ties to the Akramia movement and the 2005 Andijon uprising. If found guilty on all charges, the four could face twenty years in prison. The presiding judge announced that the verdict would be made public on September ¶28. ¶2. (C) UNHCR told Poloff that Maksudova,s infant daughter and thirteen year old sister (who has been taking care of Maksudova,s daughter since the arrest),are both still living in Osh. Per Ref B, Maksudova,s mother, who lives in the United States, appealed to UNHCR to relocate Maksudova,s sister and daughter to Germany, where Maksudova,s husband resides. Since that appeal was made, UNHCR has learned that Maksudova,s mother has decided, together with about sixty other Andijon refugees currently in living in the U.S., to move back to Uzbekistan. According to UNHCR, the Uzbek Government promised amnesty to all returning refugees, and, as a result, many have decided to move back. Due to this recent development, UNHCR has not been able to move forward with the resettlement of either Maksudova,s sister or daughter. ¶3. (SBU) Post will continue to monitor the trial closely, in consultation with UNHCR and other interested parties. YOVANOVITCH