HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH STAFFER NIYAZOVA SENTENCED TO

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TASHKENT 000869 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR SCA/CEN AND DRL E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/01/2017 TAGS: PHUM PGOV UZ SUBJECT: HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH STAFFER NIYAZOVA SENTENCED TO SEVEN YEARS, OBSERVERS BARRED FROM COURTROOM REF: TASHKENT 804 Classified By: CDA BRAD HANSON, FOR REASONS 1.4 (B, D) ¶1. (C) Summary: Tashkent's Sergeli District Criminal Court carried out a two-day trial against Human Rights Watch local staffer Umida Niyazova on April 30 and May 1. It ended with a guilty verdict on all charges and a seven year prison sentence for Niyazova. The judge excluded diplomatic observers, journalists, and human rights activists from the courtroom. A German Embassy representative assured Poloff that his Embassy would lodge a formal protest with the Foreign Ministry in response to being denied access to the trial. He expressed confidence that the European Union on May 14 would respond to this and other politically motivated attacks on human rights activists by renewing its sanctions against Uzbekistan. End summary. ¶2. (SBU) On April 30, the trial of Human Rights Watch local staffer Umida Niyazova finally began at Tashkent's Sergeli District Criminal Court, after having been postponed on April 19 (reftel). Niyazova's lawyer reportedly received only 30 minutes' notice before the start of the proceedings. Niyazova's aunt and a brother attended the opening session, but other relatives were reportedly denied entry. Human Rights Watch office director Andrea Berg attended the afternoon session on April 30. Berg told Poloff that Niyazova had apparently lost some weight during her detention, but that she otherwise appeared healthy and completely lucid. Berg said Niyazova showed no visible evidence of mistreatment. According to Berg, the judge forbade observers from taking notes during the session. ¶3. (SBU) Niyazova stood accused of three criminal charges: illegal border crossing, smuggling, and possessing or distributing materials posing a threat to public security and public order. She pleaded guilty to the charge of illegal border crossing, but not to the other two charges. Thus, the testimony in the trial focused almost exclusively on the two latter charges. Nine witnesses testified on the first day. Three were employees of the Uzbek State Agency for Communications and Information Technology, who had analyzed the contents of Niyazova's laptop computer and allegedly determined that the data constituted a threat to public security. According to Berg, the witnesses could not specify their findings. One reportedly stated that the information on Niyazova's computer was not dangerous, but would have posed a threat if it had been distributed. According to Berg, Niyazova had the opportunity to question witnesses, but the judge repeatedly interrupted her, asking her dismissively, "Are you a lawyer?" and "Why did you not stay home to raise your child?" ¶4. (SBU) The trial resumed on May 1. Poloff and a German Embassy representative appeared at the court, together with Andrea Berg, several of Niyazova's relatives, journalists, and human rights activists, and registered with court guards to observe the trial. Only Berg and one of Niyazova's relatives were admitted to the courtroom. Berg and the defense attorney later reported that the judge refused the attorney's request to admit diplomats. In a hurried session, the judge called three final witnesses to testify. Several others who had been scheduled to testify were omitted from the schedule because of time constraints. The prosecuting attorney made his closing arguments and requested a sentence of eight years' imprisonment. Niyazova delivered a closing statement in which she defended her work as a human rights activist. According to Berg, Niyazova told the court, "If we want to build a civil society, people must have the right to criticize those in power." After a four hour recess, the judge handed down a guilty verdict and a sentence of seven years' imprisonment. ¶5. (C) The German Embassy representative, clearly angered, told Poloff that his Embassy would lodge a formal protest with the Foreign Ministry the next day based on the denial of access to monitors. He confessed that, after Niyazova's trial and other recent Uzbek actions against human rights activists, he is confident that the European Union will maintain its sanctions against Uzbekistan when the question is revisited in Brussels on May 14. ¶6. (C) Comment: Niyazova's two-day trial was a mockery of TASHKENT 00000869 002 OF 002 justice, and its outcome is no surprise. It is clear that the judge managed the process specifically to prevent the intrusion of outside observers, even to the extent of refusing specific requests from the defense attorney to admit diplomats. International observers should make no mistake in interpreting Niyazova's trial: it was a politically motivated prosecution with a pre-determined verdict, engineered at the highest levels of the Uzbek government. Promises of "dialogue" aside, the trial of Umida Niyazova is bona fide evidence of Uzbekistan's true attitude toward human rights and civil society. HANSON