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 -------------- -- ¶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? -------------- -------------- ¶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 -------------- ¶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