ANOTHER UZBEK OPPOSITION LEADER SENTENCED TO A

C O N F I D E N T I A L TASHKENT 000462 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR SCA/CEN AND DRL E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/08/2016 TAGS: PHUM PGOV UZ SUBJECT: ANOTHER UZBEK OPPOSITION LEADER SENTENCED TO A DECADE IN PRISON REF: TASHKENT 427 Classified By: AMB. JON R. PURNELL, FOR REASONS 1.4 (B, D) ¶1. (C) Summary: Sunshine Coalition co-founder Sanjar Umarov was convicted on March 6 and sentenced to 14 and a half years in prison, with the sentence reduced to ten years and ten months by an amnesty decree. He plans to appeal. Fellow coalition co-founder Nodira Khidoyatova, convicted earlier on similar charges, plans to skip the normal appeal process and complain directly to the Supreme Court. While we give the defense high marks for effort, we expect that appeals will not reverse the verdicts or lighten the sentences further. End summary. ¶2. (C) On March 6, the Tashkent City Criminal Court sentenced Sunshine Coalition co-founder Sanjar Umarov to a prison term of 14 years and 6 months on multiple charges of high economic crimes. Based on a December 2005 amnesty decree, the judge reduced the sentence by one-quarter, to ten years and ten months. The state prosecutor had requested an 18-year sentence. In addition, the judge ordered Umarov to pay fines totaling $8.3 million. The verdict came five days after the conviction of Umarov's fellow coalition co-founder Nodira Khidoyatova on similar charges (reftel). ¶3. (C) As in the Khidoyatova case, Umarov's final day in court attracted a throng of approximately 60 observers, including Poloff, human rights activists, journalists, and diplomats from the British and German embassies and the OSCE Center. The judge read the verdict in an uninterrupted 90-minute session. After the hearing, Umarov's lawyer, Vitaly Krasilovsky, told journalists and other observers, "Sanjar Umarov's guilt was not proven on any of the charges," and vowed to appeal the verdict. Then, in a private aside to Poloff, he said, "A different judge will look at the case. But of course, the result will be the same." KHIDOYATOVA TO APPEAL DIRECTLY TO SUPREME COURT -------------- -- ¶4. (C) In a separate meeting with Poloff, Free Farmers Party head Nigora Khidoyatova said that her sister, Sunshine Coalition co-founder Nodira Khidoyatova, will soon be transferred to Uzbekistan's only women's prison, in the outskirts of Tashkent, where she will be allowed one visit from a family member every four months. According to Nigora, the defense will forego the traditional appeal process, believing it to be a useless review by the same court that convicted her. Instead, her attorney will file an appeal directly to the Supreme Court to protest procedural violations in the trial. The process would encompass three appeal stages and would take around four months to complete. Still, Khidoyatova was pessimistic about the possible outcome. She said that, as a final resort, the family would appeal to the "International Court," but she could not specify what institution she had in mind, or what jurisdiction it had over this case. ¶5. (C) Comment: We give credit to Khidoyatova and Umarov's lawyers for exhausting all available remedies that the legal system offers. However, there is no meaningful separation of powers between the judiciary and executive authority. Both of these cases were clearly politically motivated, and not surprisingly, the courts delivered the verdict expected of them by the regime. We agree with Umarov,s attorney that the verdicts and sentences will stand, regardless of appeals at any level. Post is aware of very few cases, and none involving members of the political opposition, in which verdicts have been reversed, or sentences substantially lightened, as a result of an appeal. PURNELL