ANDIJON COURT CONVICTS RIGHTS ACTIVIST GULBAHOR

C O N F I D E N T I A L TASHKENT 000843

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SCA/CEN AND DRL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/25/2017
TAGS: PHUM UZ
SUBJECT: ANDIJON COURT CONVICTS RIGHTS ACTIVIST GULBAHOR
TURAYEVA

REF: A. 05 TASHKENT 770 (NOTAL)

B. 05 TASHKENT 2674 (NOTAL)

Classified By: AMB. JON R. PURNELL, FOR REASONS 1.4 (B, D)


1. (C) Summary: An Andijon court has convicted human rights
activist Gulbahor Turayeva of anticonstitutional activity,
slander, and distributing subversive materials, and sentenced
her to six years in prison. Turayeva had spoken out against
alleged forced hysterectomies and gave eyewitness testimony
to emboffs and journalists about the 2005 Andijon events.
The case bears all the hallmarks of a classic political
prosecution. Turayeva thus joins a growing list of women
political prisoners as the European Union prepares to decide
on the future of its sanctions against Uzbekistan. End
summary.


2. (SBU) On April 24, according to Internet press reports,
the Andijon Province Criminal Court convicted Andijon-based
human rights activist Gulbahor Turayeva on charges of
anticonstitutional activity, slander, and distributing
materials threatening public order. The court sentenced her
to six years' imprisonment. Turayeva was reportedly arrested
on January 14 as she attempted to cross the Uzbek border from
Kyrgyzstan carrying over 100 copies of books written by
Muhammad Solikh, the exiled leader of the opposition
political party, Erk.


3. (C) In early 2005, Turayeva, a forensic pathologist,
widely publicized allegations of forced hysterectomies on
women in the Ferghana Valley. Turayeva told emboffs and
journalists at the time that, as part of a
government-sanctioned policy to reduce the national birth
rate, hospitals were frequently sterilizing women who had
recently given birth, without medical need, and without
patients' knowledge or consent (ref A). Turayeva also spoke
out prominently in the wake of the 2005 Andijon violence,
telling emboffs and others that she had personally seen
approximately 500 corpses at an Andijon school the day after
the events. In her last communication with the Embassy in
late 2005, she informed Poloff that authorities had filed a
criminal case against her in retaliation for a meeting with
Poloff (ref B).


4. (C) Comment: The circumstances of Turayeva's trial and the
charges in the case bear all the hallmarks of a classic
politically-motivated prosecution. Turayeva thus joins a
growing list of women human rights activists imprisoned for
their criticism of the government. The list includes Human
Rights Watch local staffer Umida Niyazova, who was arrested
at the same border crossing point as Turayeva under similar
circumstances and now awaits trial; and Ferghana-based
activist Mutabar Tajibayeva, who was convicted in March 2006
and sentenced to eight years' imprisonment. Turayeva's
conviction carries all the more weight now, as the European
Union prepares to evaluate Uzbekistan's "concrete, positive
steps" on human rights and decide whether to continue or
alter its sanctions against the country.

PURNELL