UZBEKISTAN: SANJAR UMAROV'S WIFE DESCRIBES PRISON

C O N F I D E N T I A L TASHKENT 001217

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SCA/CEN AND DRL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/21/2018
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL SOCI UZ
SUBJECT: UZBEKISTAN: SANJAR UMAROV'S WIFE DESCRIBES PRISON
VISIT

REF: A. TASHKENT 627

B. TASHKENT 854

C. TASHKENT 927

D. TASHKENT 403

E. TASHKENT 211

F. TASHKENT 1200

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


1. (C) Summary: During a meeting with poloff at the Embassy
on October 21, Indira Umarova - the wife of imprisoned
political oppositionist Sanjar Umarov (and a recently
naturalized AmCit) - described her visit to her husband in
prison and his poor health condition. What Umarova told
poloff roughly matched what her son Gulam had reported in a
widely distributed email from October 20. While Umarova
stated her belief that her husband's health condition was
dire and that he could soon die in prison, shQand others
also reported that his condition appears to have improved
somewhat since his transfer to the Tavvaksay prison a month
and a half ago. We are concerned about the continued reports
of Umarov's deteriorating health and we do not doubt the
sincerity of his family, but without access to Uzbekistan's
prisons, it is impossible for us to confirm Umarov's current
condition. We are currently weighing how best to raise our
concern with authorities, but one possibility is to request
access to Umarov in prison. End summary.

UMAROVA VISITS HUSBAND AT PRISON ON OCTOBER 17...
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2. (C) During her meeting with poloff at the Embassy on
October 21, Umarova was accompanied by her two young
daughters (both U.S.-born AmCits),and Free Farmers
opposition party leader Nigara Khidoyatova. Umarova reported
visiting her husband at the Tavvaksay prison in Tashkent
province on October 17. Umarov was reportedly transferred to
the Tavvaksay prison from another prison in Navoi province
roughly a month and a half ago. Umarova said she waited more
than eight hours outside of the prison before they were
granted access. Her daughters spent only a short period of
time with their father before leaving the prison (Umarova
said she was uncomfortable with them staying overnight.)
Umarova herself stayed overnight at the prison with her
husband for a period of roughly seventeen hours.

...SHOCKED AT HUSBAND'S APPEARANCE
--------------


3. (C) Much of what Umarova told poloff about her husband's
current condition matched what her son Gulam, who lives in
the United States, reported in a widely distributed email
from October 20. Umarova, who had not seen her husband since
his imprisonment in 2005, was shocked by his current
appearance, which she compared to that of "a German
concentration camp victim." She said that he was very thin,
"like a skeleton," and that his veins appeared to be
protruding from his skin. She could not estimate his current
weight.

REPORTS HUSBAND HAS TROUBLE SPEAKING, EATING, AND SLEEPING
-------------- --------------


4. (C) Umarova reported that her husband was very weak, and
"only had the strength to speak in a whisper." She described
her husband as semi-lucid. While he recognized his family
and told them "to be strong," Umarov allegedly did not
directly respond to most of his wife's questions and said
nothing about his health or treatment in prison.


5. (C) Umarova reported that her husband would not eat the
food she tried to feed him during the visit. She further

speculated that he could no longer eat normal food and needed
to be fed intravenously (Comment: This appears to be pure
speculation on Umarova's part. Prison authorities did not
tell her that Umarov was being fed intravenously, nor did she
see any concrete evidence of this. End comment.) Umarova
added that her husband did not sleep during the visit, but
rocked back and forth in his chair most of the night with his
arms folded over his head.

REPORTS SEEING SIGNS HUSBAND WAS PREVIOUSLY TORTURED
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6. (C) Umarova reported seeing evidence on her husband's
body that he had been previously tortured, but she was
careful to explain that the abuse "was not recent" and
occurred before Umarov was transferred to the Tavvaksay
prison. She reported seeing welts and bruises on his calves
and shins, which she believed were caused by beatings with a
baton. She also reported that Umarov had a bump on the back
of his head and seeing evidence on Umarov's arms that he had
been given injections of some sort.

UMAROVA ASKS FOR WEST TO INTERVENE ON HUSBAND'S BEHALF
-------------- --------------


7. (C) Umarova stated her belief that her husband's health
condition was dire and that he might die in prison before his
family is given another chance to visit him again in
December. Umarova requested that the United States intervene
on her husband's behalf and ask that he be released from
prison under article 75 of the criminal code, which allows
prisoners to be released early due to poor health.
Khidoyotova noted that another political prisoner, Mutabar
Tojiboyeva, was released from prison on medical grounds
earlier this year (ref A).


8. (C) Umarova reported that she planned to approach other
Western Embassies to ask that they also intervene on Umarov's
behalf. She also planned to meet with the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) office in Tashkent, which
restarted its prison monitoring program this year. As far as
she knew, the ICRC had not yet met with Umarov in prison.

CONDITIONS REPORTEDLY BETTER AT NEW PRISON
--------------


9. (C) Both Umarova and Khidoyotova remarked that conditions
at Tavvaksay, while far from perfect, were still an
improvement over those at the prison in Navoi province where
Umarov was previously held. Umarova explained that her
husband was brought to Tavvaksay in his current state - and
that if anything - his condition had improved at Tavvaksay.
She noted that officials at Tavvaksay treated her "with
respect" and appeared concerned about Umarov's health.


10. (C) Umarova reported that her sister-in-law visited
Umarov at Tavvaksay on September 24 and was allowed to give
him medicine. Umarova was reportedly told by another inmate
that the medicine allowed Umarov to sleep better at night.
In an email to poloff from September 28, Umarov's son
Arslanbek reported that his aunt had found that Umarov's
condition had improved since the last time she visited him in
July (ref B and C).


11. (C) During a previous meeting with poloff in late
September, Khidoyotova interpreted Umarov's transfer to
Tavvaksay as a positive phenomenon. She noted that wealthier
inmates, including former Uzbek officials, have reportedly
paid bribes to be transferred to Tavvaksay, where conditions
reportedly are better than at any other prison in Uzbekistan.
Khidoyotova speculated that Umarov was transferred to
Tavvaksay after authorities recognized that his health was

growing worse in Navoi.

VIEW FROM THE GERMAN EMBASSY
--------------


12. (C) Following the meeting with Umarova, poloff discussed
the case with German poloff Uwe Berndt, who offered to
investigate the possibility of having the EU intervene on
Umarov's behalf with EU colleagues in Tashkent. Berndt
believed that an EU intervention would carry more weight with
the Uzbeks than a bilateral German intervention. After
discussing the issue with the French Embassy, Berndt reported
that it was unlikely that the EU would intervene on Umarov's
behalf on its own. He also suggested that rather than raise
concerns about Umarov's health that have not been verified,
the best first step would be to request for foreign diplomats
to be granted access to Umarov in prison to independently
determine his present condition.

PREVIOUS REPORTS OF UMAROV'S CONDITION
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13. (C) Umarov's family has reported on his deteriorating
health condition since February (refs D and E). Little of
Umarova's current observations regarding her husband's health
appear to differ significantly from what her son Arslanbek
reported to poloff in July (refs B and C). The Ambassador
and visiting U.S. government officials have routinely raised
Umarov's case with government officials during the past year,
more so than for any other political prisoner in Uzbekistan.
Concerns about Umarov's health also were raised by USOSCE at
the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna on May 8.

AMCIT UMAROVA TRAVELED ON UZBEK PASSPORT
--------------


14. (C) Umarova, who recently became a naturalized AmCit and
holds a U.S. passport, traveled to Uzbekistan on her Uzbek
passport on October 11. When she tried to apply for an Uzbek
visa through the Uzbek Embassy in Washington, she was
reportedly told that she would first have to give up her
Uzbek citizenship, a process they allegedly explained would
take "three to five years" and which would require President
Karimov's personal assent. Her daughters were granted Uzbek
visas and traveled on their American passports.


15. (C) Umarova reported that she had been frequently
followed since she arrived in Uzbekistan. While she has not
been directly harassed, an unnamed National Security Service
official cryptically warned her "to be careful in every way."
She plans to depart Uzbekistan for the United States on
October 26. Umarova said she did not plan to return to
Uzbekistan anytime soon, but her sister-in-law, who still
lives in Uzbekistan, hoped to visit Umarov in prison again in
December.

COMMENT
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16. (C) We are concerned about the continued reports of
Umarov's deteriorating condition in prison and have no doubts
about the sincerity of his family. However, without access
to Uzbekistan's prisons, it is impossible for us to
independently verify Umarov's current condition. Our Embassy
and visiting U.S. government officials have weighed in more
heavily this past year on Umarov's behalf than for any other
political prisoner in Uzbekistan, but we will continue to
voice our concern regarding his health and urge authorities
to either amnesty or release him on health grounds, as they
have done recently for other political prisoners (ref F). We
also will explore the possibility of first requesting access
to Umarov in prison, as suggested by our German colleague.

NORLAND