YUSUF JUMAEV AND SON BOBUR ARRESTED; HUMAN RIGHTS

C O N F I D E N T I A L TASHKENT 000012

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SCA/CEN AND DRL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/04/2018
TAGS: PHUM PGOV UZ
SUBJECT: YUSUF JUMAEV AND SON BOBUR ARRESTED; HUMAN RIGHTS
ACTIVISTS DOUBT JUMAEV FAMILY'S CLAIMS

REF: A. 07 TASHKENT 2109

B. 07 TASHKENT 2153

Classified By: POLOFF R. FITZMAURICE FOR REASONS 1.4 (B, D)


1. (C) Summary: Independent websites and human rights
contacts reported that dissident poet Yusuf Jumaev and his
son Bobur were arrested on December 17 by National Security
Service (NSS) officers in Tashkent. Meanwhile, Jumaev's son
Mashrab remains in pre-trial detention in Bukhara, where he
is accused of stabbing a man with a knife. The Swiss Embassy
and a prominent human rights activist in Tashkent have
arranged for lawyers to represent the Jumaev family.
Separately, investigations carried out by two Bukhara-based
members of the Rapid Reaction Group (a coalition of human
rights activists) seriously call into question claims about
the case made by Jumaev's son Alisher, who first brought the
case to attention of poloff and others. End summary.


2. (C) In several meetings with poloff in early and mid
December, Jumaev's son Alisher described to poloff a series
of actions allegedly taken by local authorities in the
Karakul district of Bukhara province against his family.
Alisher theorized that his family was targeted because of his
father's long-standing criticism of President Karimov.
First, Alisher alleged that local authorities arrested his
brother Mashrab on December 4 for stabbing a man named Farhat
at the home of a local woman named Nargiza. According to
Alisher, Mashrab had never met Farhat or Nargiza before and
the charges against him were based on coerced testimony.
Alisher later told poloff that his family's home in Karakul
was raided by a large number of law enforcement officers
during the evening of December 10 and that his father and
brothers were subsequently forced into hiding. Earlier that
same day, Jumaev and his son Bobor allegedly held a "mobile
protest" by attaching anti-Karimov posters to their car and
driving around Karakul district. According to Alisher,
police tried but failed to stop the mobile protest (ref A).


3. (C) Comment: Alisher's multiple retelling of events were
filled with obvious exaggerations and inconsistencies. For
this reason, we doubted Alisher's credibility, but
acknowledged that some of what he told us, such as Mashrab's
arrest, could have some validity. End comment.

YUSUF JUMAEV AND SON BOBUR ARRESTED IN TASHKENT
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4. (C) The Ezgulik human rights group reported in a
December 23 press release that Jumaev and his son Bobur were
arrested on December 17 by National Security Service (NSS)
officers at the Tashkent home of human rights activist
Akromkjon Muhiddinov. The press release stated that Jumaev
and Bobur were being held at NSS headquarters in Tashkent and
were charged with violating article 219 of the criminal code
(resisting arrest),presumably stemming from their refusal to
heed police orders to end their mobile protest in Karakul.
According to the Criminal Code, the maximum penalty for
resisting arrest is 3 years' imprisonment.


5. (C) On December 21, during a human rights protest in
which he was participating (ref B),Alisher confirmed to
poloff that his father and brother were arrested by NSS
officers at Muhiddinov's home. Both Alisher and Muhiddinov
were at the house and witnessed the arrest, but neither of
them was detained.

SWISS EMBASSY TO PROVIDE LEGAL REPRESENTATION
--------------


6. (C) In an email to the Ambassador and DCM on January 3,
Swiss Ambassador Peter Burkhard, who has closely followed the

case, stated that his Embassy has provided for three lawyers
to defend Yusuf Jumaev and his sons Bobur and Mashrab, but
noted that the lawyers have been so far unable to see their
clients.

JUMAEV'S WIFE AND SON ALISHER TO SEEK ASYLUM ABROAD?
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7. (C) On January 4, dissident academic Tashpulat Yuldashev
told poloff that he had recently seen Alisher and his mother
in Tashkent at a small apartment in which the two were
living. Alisher reportedly told Yuldashev that he planned to
leave Uzbekistan shortly with his mother to seek political
asylum through the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) office in either Almaty or Bishkek.
Yuldashev further reported that Alisher recently received
approximately 2,000 dollars for living expenses from
Jakhongir Mamatov, a former Press Secretary for President
Karimov who fled Uzbekistan for the United States in the
early 1990s and now operates an anti-Karimov organization,
the Congress of Democratic Uzbekistan. Poloff visited the
organization's website, which is entirely in Uzbek and
included a collection of Yusuf Jumaev's poetry.

RAPID REACTION GROUP QUESTIONS JUMAEV FAMILY CLAIMS
-------------- --------------


8. (C) Seeking to confirm Alisher's claims, poloff reached
out to Shukhrat Ganiev and Vohid Karimov, two prominent
Bukhara-based human rights activists who are also members of
the Rapid Reaction Group, a coalition of human rights
activists. Ganiev and Karimov looked into the allegations
made by Alisher and reportedly uncovered evidence calling
into question some of his key claims.


9. (C) Karimov, a physician and former head of the Medical
Bukhara Association, became head doctor for emergency
services in Bukhara province on December 18. Karimov
explained that his recent promotion allowed him to travel
around Bukhara province more freely to investigate human
rights cases. On December 26, Karimov told poloff that he
talked to witnesses in Karakul and examined medical documents
pertaining to the Jumaev case. From these sources, Karimov
pieced together a story of events much different from that of
Alisher. First, he uncovered that Mashrab and Nargiza not
only knew each other, but were officially registered as
husband and wife, even though Mashrab had not formally
divorced from his first wife, Hilola Oltieva. Karimov also
stated that Mashrab was at Nargiza's house when Farhat
arrived. Farhat, who was drunk, allegedly made lewd comments
to Nargiza, upsetting Mashrab, who stabbed Farhat in the back
while he was trying to leave Nargiza's home.


10. (C) Karimov further alleged that after Mashrab was
arrested, Alisher approached Karakul MVD chief U. Halimov and
offered him 5 million soums (3,900 dollars) to release his
brother from pre-trial detention, but Halimov refused. In
addition, Karimov stated that Yusuf Jumaev and his son Bobur
hit a police officer, MVD Lieutenant Tulkin Isokov, with
their car after they refused to stop at a routine police
checkpoint on the border of Karakul district as they were
conducting their mobile protest on December 10 (Note: Police
checkpoints on Uzbekistan's roads are common, especially
between administrative districts. End note.) Karimov
reported that Isokov was subsequently hospitalized for a
broken leg.


11. (C) Ganiev, who runs the Bukhara Humanitarian-Legal
Center, said that he was approached by Yusuf Jumaev for
assistance in getting Mashrab out of jail following his
arrest on December 4. After investigating the case, Ganiev
concluded that no human rights violations had occurred and he

recommended that Jumaev hire a lawyer for his son. Ganiev
also talked to witnesses in Karakul on December 12 and was
also told that Jumaev and his son Bobur hit a policeman as
they drove through the district police checkpoint without
stopping. The witnesses theorized that Bobur, who was
reportedly driving the car, accidentally hit the policeman
because the posters on the car made it difficult for him to
see.

COMMENT
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12. (C) The activists from the Rapid Reaction Group paint a
much different version of events than Alisher and we tend to
find their version more plausible. The Jumaevs may be
relating what they perceive to be the truth, but we
increasingly question those perceptions. Yusuf Jumaev has
been at odds with the GOU authorities for years. He has been
jailed and his family has suffered. In our experience, this
sort of trauma can (and often does) lead to distorted
perceptions. In any event, we will continue to take
seriously the possibility that the Jumaevs could suffer
mistreatment, and we will continue to monitor the criminal
case against them.
NORLAND