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