UZBEKS FREED AFTER HIGH DRAMA IN IVANOVO

C O N F I D E N T I A L MOSCOW 000953

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/06/2017
TAGS: PREF PHUM RS
SUBJECT: UZBEKS FREED AFTER HIGH DRAMA IN IVANOVO

REF: 06 MOSCOW 12932

Classified By: Political Minister-Counselor Alice Wells.
Reasons 1.4 (b and d).


1. (C) UNHCR has confirmed that 12 of the 13 Uzbeks held in
Ivanovo under an extradition request from Uzbekistan were
released by Russian authorities March 5, three days after a
court ordered them freed. The other, a citizen of
Kyrgyzstan, is expected to be released as well, following a
separate court order issued in his case March 5.


2. (C) UNHCR Senior Protection Officer Gang Li said that the
12, all citizens of Uzbekistan, have been issued a one-month
registration in Ivanovo, giving them legal status in the
country, and told they should depart Russia before the
registration expires (reftel). UNHCR has asked the MFA to
issue them exit visas and has confirmed Sweden's offer to
resettle them. The Kyrgyz citizen will likely return to
Kyrgyzstan, Li said. The group is staying in Ivanovo and
will be moved as soon as MFA exit permissions are issued.


3. (C) Their release was followed several anxious hours in
Ivanovo. Lawyers representing the group arrived at the
detention center early March 5 with the court order in hand
but were kept waiting until the early afternoon before the
head of the detention center accepted it. Shortly
thereafter, about 20 armed OMON riot police arrived at the
detention center in two large trucks. The lawyers, having
been given no information by prison officials, feared that
the group would be taken immediately to the airport and
deported, which they reported to UNHCR. At 1830 local time,
UNHCR contacted the MFA seeking clarification of GOR
intentions. At about 2030, the group was brought from their
cells and placed in the trucks, and only then were lawyers
told they were being released and taken to be registered.
The stress caused one of the lawyers to collapse, although
she was revived quickly.


4. (C) Li said that Russian officials had given no hint that
the group would be released. Late last week, in a letter
from the Office of the Procurator General and in a separate,
lengthy, and unexpected lecture by Federal Migration Service
officials justifying the 21-month detention and the legality
of Russia's position, UNHCR had been given the impression
that the case may end in the Uzbeks' deportation.


5. (C) Comment: This saga will most likely have a happy
ending, although no one connected with the case will relax
until the Uzbeks have departed the country. Russia has done
the right thing in honoring its international obligations,
but it appears GOR officials wanted to be clear that they
were doing so on their own terms. End Comment.
BURNS