Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07TASHKENT1433
2007-08-07 09:56:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Tashkent
Cable title:  

UZBEKS ADOPT JUDICIAL REFORMS, BUT THE JURY'S

Tags:  PGOV PHUM UZ 
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VZCZCXRO3354
RR RUEHDBU
DE RUEHNT #1433 2190956
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 070956Z AUG 07
FM AMEMBASSY TASHKENT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8270
INFO RUEHAH/AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT 3201
RUEHTA/AMEMBASSY ASTANA 9354
RUEHEK/AMEMBASSY BISHKEK 3812
RUEHDBU/AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE 3674
C O N F I D E N T I A L TASHKENT 001433 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/07/2017
TAGS: PGOV PHUM UZ
SUBJECT: UZBEKS ADOPT JUDICIAL REFORMS, BUT THE JURY'S
STILL OUT ON REAL CHANGE

REF: TASHKENT 991

Classified By: CDA Brad Hanson for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L TASHKENT 001433

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/07/2017
TAGS: PGOV PHUM UZ
SUBJECT: UZBEKS ADOPT JUDICIAL REFORMS, BUT THE JURY'S
STILL OUT ON REAL CHANGE

REF: TASHKENT 991

Classified By: CDA Brad Hanson for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (U) The Government of Uzbekistan has adopted long-planned
legislation abolishing the death penalty and transferring the
power to issue detention warrants from the Prosecutor's
Office to the judiciary. The new laws, adopted by both
chambers of the Oliy Majlis in June, are generally the same
as described to Poloff by Ministry of Justice representatives
in May (reftel). The legislation replacing the death penalty
with lifetime imprisonment now contains a provision mandating
that prisoners sentenced to life must serve twenty years
before making an appeal. The law also limits lifetime
imprisonment to those convicted of premeditated murder and
terrorism, and contains language enumerating prisoners'
rights. Additionally, the adopted form of the legislation
dealing with warrant authority allows prosecutors to cancel
judges' warrants.


2. (SBU) The GOU has made significant efforts to exploit the
new legislation for public relations gains, particularly with
the Europeans. The official Uzbek press has reported
extensively on the laws, portraying them as major advancement
for the cause of human rights and highlighting favorable
international reactions. The adoption if the new provisions
was announced as well to all diplomatic missions and
international organizations in Tashkent by diplomatic note.
Meanwhile, Uzbek embassies have worked to facilitate and
promote news coverage of the legislation by holding special
briefings for the foreign press corps, presumably after being
instructed to do so.


3. (C) Comment: Certain aspects of these reforms may
represent a real effort to create the legal framework needed
to improve Uzbekistan's human rights record. In particular,
Post welcomes the transfer of detention-warrant authority to
the judiciary, a change the United States and others in the
international community had long encouraged the GOU to adopt.
Legal reform, however, is only the first step. The true
challenge of Uzbekistan's commitment to the rule of law will
be, as ever, in the implementation of the new legislation, a
test the GOU often fails. Real improvements will require a
sea change in the culture of the legal and state apparatus.
Unfortunately, the prospects for this type of transformation
are not encouraging, especially since the Uzbek government's
industrious efforts to extol the virtues of the new laws
suggest that it values these reforms primarily as promotional
tools in its never-ending international public relations
campaign.
HANSON