UZBEKISTAN'S CASE AGAINST HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 TASHKENT 000804

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SCA/CEN AND DRL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/19/2017
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL UZ
SUBJECT: UZBEKISTAN'S CASE AGAINST HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
STAFFER UMIDA NIYAZOVA

REF: TASHKENT 782

Classified By: DCM BRAD HANSON, FOR REASONS 1.4 (B, D)


1. (C) Summary: Human Rights Watch local staffer Umida
Niyazova's trial was to begin on April 19, but at the
scheduled start time, the judge abruptly postponed the case
for "further study." Niyazova's indictment contains copious
detail of alleged illegal border crossing and smuggling, but
very little about the key charge against her: producing and
distributing documents which pose a threat to state security.
The indictment identifies Niyazova's U.S. Embassy contacts
by name, and it strongly implies--though incorrectly--that
she received Embassy grant money to further her goal of
undermining the state. Circumstances suggest that while she
will be found guilty, she may spend relatively little time in
prison. One reason the trial may have been postponed, and a
reason Niyazova may be released early, is the significant
political pressure European countries are now putting on
Uzbekistan for its shabby treatment of Human Rights Watch.
End summary.


2. (C) Human Rights Watch local staffer Umida Niyazova was
scheduled to go on trial April 19. However, at the scheduled
start time, the Tashkent Criminal Court judge abruptly
postponed the trial for "further study" and gave no
indication when the process would resume. Post has obtained
a copy of Niyazova's indictment. She is charged with illegal
border crossing, smuggling, and using funds from foreign
sources to produce and disseminate materials posing a threat
to the state and public security. She has been in custody
since January 22. The total maximum penalty for the listed
offenses is 23 years' imprisonment. (Comment: Criminal
judges generally order those convicted of multiple charges to
serve their sentences concurrently. It is likely that the
sentence will amount to less than ten years' imprisonment.
End comment.)

SUBVERSIVE DOCUMENTS AND ILLEGAL BORDER CROSSING
-------------- ---


3. (C) The 25-page indictment includes summaries of
Niyazova's interrogation, as well as testimony from 28
witnesses and references to several supplementary documents
purporting to "prove" Niyazova's "total guilt." It contains
copious information about alleged smuggling and illegal
border crossing. However, details are sparse concerning the
alleged "materials posing a threat to public security and
public order." While the indictment characterizes the
offending documents as subversive, based on "expert
analysis," it never identifies the documents, nor gives any
concrete description of their content.


4. (C) According to the indictment, Niyazova arrived at the
Tashkent airport on a flight from Bishkek on December 21
carrying a laptop computer and a "flash drive" data storage
device, which she neglected to report on her customs
declaration. Customs officers reportedly detected these
items during an x-ray scan of Niyazova's hand baggage and
summoned an "expert" from the Uzbek Agency for
Telecommunications and Information Technology to analyze
their contents. The analysis purportedly revealed that "the
materials contained on the hard disk of the notebook and
memory of the removable disk are directed at infringement of
the constitutional order, undermining the state, violation of
territorial integrity, religious extremist and fundamentalist
propaganda, and (threats) to national security.


5. (C) The indictment notes that after her initial detention,
authorities released Niyazova and retained her passport
pending further investigation. On or about January 8,
according to the document, Niyazova traveled to Kyrgyzstan
without her passport, bypassing the border crossing point.
On January 22, she returned to Uzbekistan, again attempting
to bypass the border crossing, but was apprehended by border
guards.

MONEY FROM FOREIGNERS
--------------


6. (C) On the computer and flash drive, according to the
indictment, were "materials indicating that Niyazova had
received financing from abroad in the guise of grants to

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various so-called 'human rights' organizations to support
their activities." Among the grants Niyazova allegedly
received was one from the U.S. Embassy's Democracy Commission
small grants program for a project entitled
"Decriminalization of slander and insult - a guarantee of
freedom of speech." (Note: In fact, the Embassy received a
grant proposal with this exact title in January; however, it
has not been approved; the proposal was submitted by a known
friend of Niyazova's, but Niyazova's name is not associated
with the proposal. Niyazova was associated with the newly
established human rights organization "Veritas," which
received a Democracy Commission grant in April; however, the
Embassy approved the grant only after Niyazova's arrest -
reftel. End note.)


7. (C) Aside from the U.S. Embassy grant, according to the
indictment, Niyazova received a series of money transfers
from abroad, including $5,328 from Russia, $2,000 from
Turkey, $1,229.84 from Britain, and smaller sums from
Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. (Note: Human Rights Watch office
director Andrea Berg confirmed that Niyazova had received
several Western Union wire transfers from these countries; in
one case to pay for airline tickets for a family vacation to
Turkey. The precise amounts in the documentation suggest
that, as we have heard from other sources, Uzbek law
enforcement does monitor Western Union money transfers. End
note.)


8. (C) The indictment also describes a relationship between
Niyazova and a Kyrgyzstan-based organization which the
document identifies as "Global Information Human Rights
Activity." (Note: Its Russian acronym, GIPI, suggests this
may be a reference to the Global Internet Policy Initiative,
a project of the NGO Internews. End note.) According to the
indictment, Niyazova received funds from GIPI to fund
internet access for Uzbek human rights activists. The
indictment goes on to accuse Niyazova of distributing
foreign-sourced money to other domestic activists.


9. (C) The document also describes Niyazova's involvement
with the Russia-based news website "Oasis," alleging that she
received money from the site's editor and then distributed it
in the form of honoraria to Uzbek stringers whom she
recruited to write articles on human rights issues. Several
of the stringers are named in the indictment. The document
also alleges that she worked as a freelance fundraising
consultant, assisting human rights organizations with grant
proposals, and even auditing their operations for a fee.
(Comment: Here the document implies accusations against
Niyazova far beyond the crimes of which she is formally
accused, including engaging in journalism without
accreditation, conducting unregistered commercial activity,
and concealing income from taxation. End comment.)


10. (C) In some instances, the indictment merely makes
reference to Niyazova's contacts in the international
community, without overtly accusing her of illegal activity.
The document names two Embassy poloffs, as well as a Public
Affairs FSN, who know Niyazova. The document also names a
Dieter van Boven, an employee of the "Swiss Organization for
Gender Equality," who allegedly hired Niyazova to conduct
program assessments of five women's organizations. (Note:
One human rights activist named in the indictment told Poloff
that investigators questioned him as a witness in the case
and asked him pointed questions about his relationship to
specific U.S. diplomats. He said he answered neutrally,
telling the investigators that he had seen poloffs at various
unspecified "conferences and seminars." End note.)

REPERCUSSIONS ON EUROPEAN RELATIONS
--------------


11. (C) While we do not know the reason for the trial delay,
the case has likely been influenced by recent European
diplomacy. Niyazova's prosecution is part of a larger Uzbek
attack on Human Rights Watch, which most recently included
the government's refusal to renew accreditation to the
organization's office director, German citizen Andrea Berg
(reftel). The Ministry of Justice delivered this news to
Berg on April 13, only hours after the departure of the
Chairman-in-Office of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE),Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel
Angel Moratinos. Moratinos had been in Tashkent for two days

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of meetings with Uzbek officials. Post learned that
Moratinos called Foreign Minister Norov upon learning of the
denial of Berg's accreditation and expressed deep
disappointment with the decision. German Ambassador Matthias
Meyer also raised the issue with Norov. Norov reportedly
responded by describing the accreditation denial as a
"personal decision" by the Minister of Justice, and he
promised to look into the matter. Against this backdrop,
going ahead with Niyazova's trial would only contribute to a
growing sense among European diplomats that Uzbekistan is not
making concrete, positive steps to demonstrate its good faith
on human rights. The European Union is scheduled to revisit
its sanctions regime against Uzbekistan in May.

COMMENT: A POLITICAL DECISION
--------------


12. (C) Niyazova's guilty verdict is predetermined. Her
indictment and trial are merely formalities to provide a thin
veneer of legal process. The accusations of smuggling and
illegal border crossing may have merit; they are credible and
consistent with information Post received before Niyazova's
arrest. Other charges are clearly political in nature.
Nevertheless, Niyazova may spend relatively little time in
prison. If recent experience is any guide, the court may
convict Niyazova, sentence her to several years in prison,
and then arrange a release. The 2006 case of political
activist Nodira Khidoyatova might serve as a model; in that
case, after the conviction, amid a flurry of international
publicity and diplomatic appeals, a local prosecutor filed an
appeal on Khidoyatova's behalf. She was later released on
"humanitarian" grounds, based on the fact that she was the
mother of a young child. Niyazova has a two-year-old son;
she is also a female first-time offender, eligible for
inclusion in the annual amnesty which is traditionally
announced in December.


13. (C) Decisions to release political detainees like
Khidoyatova and Niyazova do not demonstrate "mercy" on the
part of the Uzbeks; they only underscore the capricious and
political nature of Uzbekistan's judicial system. If
Niyazova is freed early, or even (dare we hope?) given a
suspended sentence, the decision will be based not upon the
mercy of the Uzbek government, but upon its political
calculation that releasing her is in the interest of the
state.

PURNELL