TORTURED OVER A SHEEP

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 TASHKENT 001561 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR SCA/CEN AND DRL E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/30/2017 TAGS: PHUM PGOV KIRF UZ SUBJECT: TORTURED OVER A SHEEP Classified By: CDA BRAD HANSON FOR REASONS 1.4 (B, D). ¶1. (C) Summary: On August 14, Mashrab Jumaev, the son of dissident poet Yusup Jumaev, was fined 62,000 soum (50 dollars) by the Karakol District Criminal Court (Bukhara province) for stealing a neighbor's sheep. Jumaev was then released from pre-trial detention, where he was allegedly tortured for 21 days. Poloff was provided a written statement and video clip from the neighbor attesting that investigators forced him to sign false statements against Mashrab. In addition, Mashrab described in detail the torture that he endured, and confirmed that religious prisoners are held separately and treated more harshly than others. While Mashrab was in detention, his family led a public protest in Karakol for 14 days. We believe his treatment in pre-trial detention is reprehensible, and we agree that he was most likely targeted by the authorities because of his father. End summary. MASHRAB JUMAEV CONVICTED OF STEALING A SHEEP... -------------- -- ¶2. (C) On August 21, poloff met with brothers Mashrab and Alisher Jumaev, the sons of dissident poet and Birlik opposition party member Yusup Jumaev. Mashrab was fined 62,000 soum (50 dollars) on August 14 by the Karakol District Criminal Court for stealing a neighbor's sheep. After the verdict, Jumaev was released from pre-trial detention, where he was allegedly tortured for 21 days. Jumaev denied stealing the sheep and told poloff that his neighbor and the other witnesses were coerced through threats and beatings by investigators into signing false statements that they later renounced at trial. Mashrab believes that he was targeted because of his father, a vocal critic of President Karimov. In 2001, Yusup Jumaev was sentenced to three years imprisonment for anti-constitutional activities. He was immediately paroled in return for repenting in open court and vowing to cease his opposition activities. ¶3. (C) Alisher provided poloff with a written statement signed by his neighbor, stating that Mashrab was innocent of the charges against him. Alisher also gave poloff a video, in which the neighbor declares that police pressured him and his son into making false accusations against Mashrab. In addition, Alisher handed poloff a copy of the court's verdict, pointing out that it did not include any reference to evidence against Mashrab, which is highly unusual. Instead, under the "evidence" column, the verdict simply cites the sections of the criminal code that Mashrab was found guilty of violating. ...BUT NOT BEFORE BEING TORTURED IN PRE-TRIAL DETENSION -------------- -------------- ¶4. (C) While waiting for his trial to begin, Mashrab was detained for 21 days at Detention Center Number Three ("Ot Bazar") in Bukhara. Mashrab alleged that he was tortured repeatedly at the prison, describing the abuse in detail to poloff. He said that Ot Bazar Prison Chief Otabek Badalov and five other officers used a special room at the prison to torture inmates. There four prison guards would hold Mashrab by his arms and legs and lift him 1.5 meters off the ground before dropping him. Guards also would beat him on the legs with plastic bottles, hit him on the head with wooden planks and lash his arms with iron chains. According to Mashrab, the abuse occurred every day that he was in detention. While torturing him, the guards reportedly demanded that he confess to stealing the sheep and told him was being beaten because of his father. ¶5. (C) Mashrab reported being moved on August 9 to the basement of the prison, where the worst offenders, including alleged religious extremists, were held separately from the other prisoners. While in the basement, the beatings intensified and Mashrab was only provided one small meal a day. When his family tried to deliver him a package of goods, prison guards beat Mashrab and forced him to sign that he had received the package, although in reality he received nothing. Before being delivered to the prison on July 26, Mashrab also reported being beaten by three officers at the police station in Karakol. ¶6. (C) Mashrab said that he was denied medical care throughout his stay at the prison. He was only allowed to wash once on August 13, the day before he was to appear in court. A doctor also visited him on August 13 to cover up his injuries. In court, Mashrab alleged that he was tortured while in detention, displayed his bruises and requested the TASHKENT 00001561 002 OF 003 judge to investigate his allegations. However, the judge immediately dismissed Mashrab's accusation, telling him that he was young and "such things happen." REPORTED ABUSE OF DETAINESS ACCUSED OF RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM -------------- -------------- ¶7. (C) Mashrab described to poloff other horrors he witnessed while in prison. He confirmed that prisoners convicted of religious extremism were kept separately from other prisoners in the basement and were treated much more harshly. Mashrab's cell mate was an individual reportedly arrested because his wife wore the Hijab. Although the man denied being an extremist, he signed a confession that he belonged to Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT) after enduring severe beatings, including the breaking of several fingers and toes. Mashrab said that the man's body was almost entirely covered in bruises. The man also was told that he would be released after signing a confession, which, of course, did not happen. Another individual accused of religious extremism was beaten so severely that Mashrab saw his jaw bone protruding from his face. Mashrab also reported that the basement housed actual members of HT who refused to renounce their beliefs and would continually chant "Allah Akbar" as they were being beaten. Mashrab also reported seeing another room in the basement filled with torture devices, including various restraints, batons and a primitive electric chair. MEDICAL INVESTIGATION THWARTED -------------- ¶8. (C) The brothers told poloff that they intend to appeal the verdict and launch an investigation into allegations of torture against prison authorities. Since being released from pre-trial detention, the two have visited several doctors and medical institutions to document Mashrab's injuries. During the meeting, Mashrab showed poloff bruises on his head, chest and arms. A doctor in Bukhara examined Mashrab and confirmed that he had been beaten. The brothers then tried to submit the doctor's report to a forensic center in Bukhara, the first step in initiating an investigation into allegations of torture, but the forensic center refused to consider Mashrab's case until it received certain documentation from law enforcement bodies, which they refused to provide. The brothers then traveled to Tashkent to visit the Tashkent Medical Academy and the Tashkent Forensic Center, which also refused to consider the case. Alisher described a particularly comical situation at the Tashkent Forensic Center, where the doctor first agreed that Mashrab had been beaten and began filling out a report. After being called out of the office by unknown individuals, though, the doctor returned and denied what he had just said, namely that Mashrab had been beaten. ¶9. (C) Since Mashrab has been released from detention, the brothers reported being followed in Bukhara and Tashkent by plain-clothed individuals. According to the brothers, while they were in Tashkent, two Deputy Police Chief Polices visited their grandfather in Karakol and asked why the two had traveled to Tashkent. The Deputy Police Chiefs also said that Mashrab was fortunate to be out of prison and threatened to put him back behind bars for continuing to tell people that he had been tortured in prison. JUMAEV FAMILY LEADS PUBLIC PROTEST -------------- ¶10. (C) While Mashrab was being held in pre-trial detention, his family organized a protest outside the Karakul Prosecutor's Office and Ministry of Interior Building. Alisher took several photos of the protest, which he shared with poloff. One picture shows Alisher, Yusup and Mashrab's mother in front of the Prosecutor's Office holding a banner that calls for the firing of "terrorists" from the police force, an end to police brutality and the freeing of Mashrab from prison. Another picture shows a plain-clothed individual from the Prosecutor's Office forcibly taking away a poster from Mashrab's mother. Alisher said that the family conducted the protest everyday between July 30 and August 12, and each time they were surrounded by plain-clothed individuals who took away their banners and forced them away from the premise buildings, sometimes hitting them as well. COMMENT -------------- ¶11. (C) Mashrab's case would almost be comical, if it were not for the serious allegations of tortured involved. While TASHKENT 00001561 003 OF 003 we are relieved that Mashrab has been released from prison, it is reprehensible that he endured 21 days of torture in pre-trial detention while awaiting trial for allegedly stealing a sheep. Clearly, Mashrab was detained and prosecuted because he is the son of Yusup Jumaev, a vocal regime critic who has been persecuted himself in the past. The statement and video from the neighbor, the alleged victim, persuasively demonstrate that the charges against Mashrab have no basis in fact. Although Alisher is convinced that the President himself is involved in framing his brother, most likely Mashrab was targeted by lower level officials from his town or Bukhara province who probably view the family as troublemakers. It is interesting to consider whether the Jumaev family's public protest positively influenced the court's decision to release Mashrab. Authorities might have decided to let him off with a fine in order to avoid any more publicity surrounding the case, which was clearly never very strong. ¶12. (C) In addition, Mashrab's description of the torture of other detainees is disturbing, and confirms that individuals are being tortured into confessing non-existent ties to HT and that prisoners accused of religious extremism continue to be held separately and treated much more harshly than other prisoners. HANSON