OTAKHONOV OUT, RUSTAMBAEV REPORTEDLY IN AS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TASHKENT 001420 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/03/2017 TAGS: PGOV PINR UZ SUBJECT: OTAKHONOV OUT, RUSTAMBAEV REPORTEDLY IN AS MINISTER OF JUSTICE REF: 06 TASHKENT 2362 Classified By: CDA Brad Hanson for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). -------------- Summary -------------- ¶1. (C) Embassy contacts have confirmed internet press reports that Minister of Justice Foziljon Otakhonov has been transferred to a position within the Presidential Apparat where he possibly will be in charge of preparations for the upcoming Presidential election. Our contacts suggest that Otakhonov will be replaced as Minister by Mirzayusuf Rustambaev, currently Rector of Tashkent State Law Institute. Neither Otakhonov's removal or Rustambaev's replacement has been confirmed by official sources. We also cannot confirm that Otakhonov will be in charge of election preparations, although it is plausible as President Karimov seeks to smooth his way to retaining power by putting the right people in the right places prior to the December election. Rustambaev, who is respected and influential within Uzbek legal circles, was previously an active participant in Post's legal reform programs. His appointment may represent an opportunity to re-engage with the Ministry of Justice, although we expect that as Minister he will have little choice but to toe the government line. End summary. -------------- New Job for Old Minister -------------- ¶2. (C) Multiple Embassy contacts have reported that President Karimov intends to appoint Tashkent State Law Institute Rector Mirzayusuf Hakimovich Rustambaev as the new Minister of Justice. Rustambaev would replace Foziljon Otakhonov, a Karimov loyalist appointed in December 2006. Independent news website www.uzmetronom.com first reported Otakhonov's removal from office August 1, suggesting that the Minister had fled the country after being implicated in a corruption investigation. The website subsequently reported that Otakhonov had been transferred to an unnamed position within the Presidential Apparat. An Embassy parliamentary contact subsequently told us that Otakhonov had been named Deputy State Advisor for Law Enforcement, the same position he held prior to his appointment as Minister of Justice. ¶3. (C) Open Dialogue Project Director Mjusa Sever told Poloff August 2 that she learned of Rustambaev's pending appointment earlier that day during a meeting with the director of the Regional Policy Foundation, a think tank associated with the President's Office. According to Sever, the director confirmed Otakhonov's transfer to the Presidential Apparat. The director reportedly denied that corruption allegations played any role in Otakhonov's transfer and suggested that he will be put in charge of preparations for the December presidential elections. Sever said that the director also hinted that the former Minister may be in line to become Chairman of the Central Election Committee in the coming months. ¶4. (C) MFA Americas Department officer Djurbek Armanov told Poloff August 2 that he could not confirm that Rustambaev would be appointed Minister of Justice. Armanov said, however, that news that Rustambaev would be the new Minister was circulating within the Government of Uzbekistan and that he believed the appointment most likely would be made. Armanov said that he did not know why the change was made, but confided to Poloff in confidence that he suspected it had something to do with "upcoming events in December." -------------- Comment -------------- ¶5. (C) Thus far no word of Otakhonov's transfer or of his successor has appeared in official sources. We have no way of confirming Sever's information that the former Minister will be placed in charge of election preparations. However, this seems plausible as Otakhonov is a known Karimov loyalist with many years of service. Many here speculated that the appointment of Buritosh Mustafaev Otakhonov's predecessor as Minister of Justice, as Chairman of the Supreme Court in December 2006 was intended to prepare the way for a series of election-related court rulings in Karimov's favor. If true, Otakhonov's new position might represent a continuing effort to put the right people in the right positions to smooth the President's way to retaining power in December. TASHKENT 00001420 002 OF 002 ¶6. (C) Local lawyers have told us that Mirzayusuf Rustambaev is respected and influential in Uzbek legal circles. A member of the Uzbek Senate, Rustambaev reportedly was heavily involved in the drafting of new legislation implementing President Karimov's decrees abolishing the use of the death penalty and transferring the authority to issue arrest warrants to the courts (septel). He was an active participant in Embassy-sponsored legal reform efforts and previously agreed to host the first American Bar Association legal clinic at Tashkent State Law Institute. Subsequent decisions to cut all contacts between Post and his Institute and to force the legal clinic to close, however, demonstrate that, possible personal feelings notwithstanding, Rustambaev will toe the government line. His appointment, if confirmed, might provide opportunities for Post to re-engage with the Ministry of Justice; however we expect that when push comes to shove, Rustambaev will do exactly what he is ordered to do. -------------- Bio Note -------------- ¶7. (SBU) Born in 1953, Mirzayusuf Hakimovich Rustambaev is an ethnic Uzbek from Khorezm Province. Rustambaev started work as a prosecutor at the Office of the General Prosecutor in ¶1975. He left the prosecutor's office in 1979 to move to the Law Department of Tashkent State University, where he taught for the next 13 years. He accepted a teaching position at Tashkent State Law Institute in 1992, where he subsequently was appointed Vice Rector in 1997 and Rector in 2000. Rustambaev was appointed to the Uzbek Senate by President Karimov in 2005 and currently serves as Deputy Chairman of the Committee for Legislation and Legal-Judicial Issues. Rustambaev's son Sardor, an Uzbek diplomat currently posted abroad, previously worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Americas Department. HANSON