DISSIDENT'S SON ARRESTED AGAIN IN BUKHARA;

C O N F I D E N T I A L TASHKENT 002109 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR SCA/CEN AND DRL E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/11/2017 TAGS: PHUM PGOV UZ SUBJECT: DISSIDENT'S SON ARRESTED AGAIN IN BUKHARA; FAMILY'S HOUSE REPORTEDLY RAIDED REF: A. TASHKENT 1561 ¶B. TASHKENT 2083 Classified By: POLOFF R. FITZMAURICE FOR REASONS 1.4 (B, D). ¶1. (C) On December 4, police in the Karakul district of Bukhara province reportedly arrested Mashrab Jumaev, son of dissident poet and Birlik opposition party member Yusup Jumaev, and charged him with stabbing an individual. Mashrab's brother, Alisher, told poloff on December 10 that the charges against his brother were fabricated and based on coerced testimony. On December 11, Alisher told poloff via email that his family's house was raided the night of December 10 by "roughly 100" Ministry of Interior (MVD) and National Security Service (NSS) officers, who allegedly shot his family's dogs, confiscated their property, and possibly arrested his other family members. Mashrab was earlier convicted on August 14 of stealing a neighbor's sheep and given a fine after being tortured for more than two weeks in pre-trial detention (ref A). Alisher believed that the authorities targeted Mashrab and the rest of his family in retaliation against their father, an outspoken critic of President Karimov. We are unable to independently confirm any of the information provided by Alisher, and some of the details appear exaggerated, but we will continue to follow this case closely. Given the seriousness of the charges involved, we believe that the story about the raid may be picked up soon by independent news websites or even international news outlets. End summary. MASHRAB REPORTEDLY ARRESTED SECOND TIME IN ONE YEAR -------------- -------------- ¶2. (C) On December 10, poloff met at the Embassy with Alisher Jumaev, who explained in detail the rather convoluted story of how his brother Mashrab Jumaev was arrested by local authorities for the second time in one year. According to Alisher, Mashrab was originally arrested without charge on December 4 in retaliation for a request his family made to local authorities on December 1 to hold an anti-Karimov picket. Shortly after his arrest, Mashrab was allegedly charged with a crime that allegedly occurred the same day. On December 4, two men in Karakul district tried to break into the home of a woman named Nargiza to rape her daughter. Nargiza reportedly wrestled a knife away from one of the attackers, stabbing him in the hand in the process. However, when Nargiza tried to report the incident to the police, she was allegedly held in custody for two days and pressured into making a written and video confession that Mashrab had stabbed the man. After Nargiza was released by the police on December 6, she reportedly wrote a letter to the Karakul's prosecutor, a copy of which was provided to Yusuf Jumaev, explaining what had occurred and denying that Mashrab was involved in the attack. In retaliation for writing the letter, Alisher said that Nargiza was arrested on unknown charges and remains in detention. ¶3. (C) Alisher was allegedly told by a local doctor that police also approached Farhat, the man who was stabbed, at a local hospital where he was being treated and also pressured him into stating that Mashrab had attacked him. Alisher did not know Farhat's last name and said that the second individual who allegedly attacked Nargiza remains unidentified. Alisher added that Mashrab had never met Nargiza or Farhat before, nor was he near Nargiza's house at the time of the attack. Alisher did not know whether Mashrab was already in police custody at the time of the attack. ¶4. (C) Alisher also told poloff that Mashrab was transferred on December 8 from Karakul police custody to Bukhara's Ok-Bozor prison, where he was held in pre-trial detention and reportedly tortured this past summer. Mashrab was also reportedly arrested by Otabek Badalov, one of the policemen who allegedly beat him this summer. Alisher did not know when his brother's trial might start, but suspected that he might be held in pre-trial detention for several weeks or months before any trial would begin. JUMAEV FAMILY REPORTEDLY LEADS VOCAL ANTI-KARIMOV PICKETS -------------- -------------- ¶5. (C) Between December 6 and 9, while Mashrab was being held in detention, the Jumaev family went ahead with plans to hold anti-Karimov pickets in several locations in Karakul district, including in front of the prosecutor's office and the local administration building and at a bazaar. Alisher shared with poloffs pictures of the protests, which show him and his father holding posters accusing President Karimov of violating Uzbekistan's constitution by seeking a third term in office. One of the photos showed the two holding posters in front of the Karakul district administration building, the sign of which is clearly visible in the photo. Alisher also said his family had organized a "mobile picket" by attaching anti-Karimov posters to their car and driving around three different districts in their area. ALLEGED RAID AGAINST JUMAEV FAMILY HOME -------------- ¶6. (C) On December 12, poloff received an email from Alisher stating that his family's home in Karakul district was allegedly raided the night before by "roughly 100" MVD and NSS officers. Alisher wrote that he learned from unidentified sources that the officers shot his family's dogs and confiscated their property, including Alisher's computer. According to Alisher, the MVD has spread rumors that his family has fled the district and pictures of them have appeared on wanted posters at police stations and post offices. He was afraid that his family was in fact arrested or might have even been killed during the raid. Alisher wrote that he had gone into hiding in an undisclosed location (Comment: Alisher told poloff at their meeting the day before that he was taking an overnight bus back to Bukhara from Tashkent, so he would not have been at home when the raid allegedly occurred. End comment.) Poloff has been so far unable to reach Alisher by phone today to confirm the information. MASHRAB'S MOTHER ALSO REPORTEDLY IN HIDING -------------- ¶7. (C) During their meeting on December 10, Alisher also told poloff that his mother earlier went into hiding in November after she received a summons from the local NSS office. Alisher provided poloff with a copy of the summons, which did not indicate why she was being summoned. Alisher believed that his mother was to be questioned regarding her participation in a picket this summer calling for Mashrab's release while he was being held in pre-trial detention for allegedly stealing a neighbor's sheep. He did not disclose where his mother was allegedly hiding. COMMENT -------------- ¶8. (C) Comment: We have so far been unable to independently verify any of the information Alisher has provided us, which, at first glance, appears outlandish, even for Uzbekistan. Poloff suspects that Alisher may be exaggerating certain details to draw greater attention to his brother's arrest. Still, we will continue to follow the case closely given the seriousness of the charges alleged. The fact that this is Mashrab's second arrest in a year suggests that local officials or police may very well have something against his family. The Uzbek Government is also certainly not above attacking the children of its opponents, witnessed by the arrest last year and continued mistreatment in prison of Ikhtiyor Hamroev, the son of prominent human rights activist Bakhtiyor Hamroev (ref B). Indeed, the number of reports suggesting that the government is clamping down on activists in the run-up to the December 23 presidential election appears to be going up. The Embassy will draw this to the GOU's attention bilaterally and with the OSCE's recently-arrived election monitoring mission, urging senior officials to halt this negative trend. NORLAND