Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08TASHKENT463
2008-04-18 12:41:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Tashkent
Cable title:
DISSIDENT POET JUMAEV SENTENCED TO INTERNAL EXILE
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C O N F I D E N T I A L TASHKENT 000463
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/18/2018
TAGS: PHUM PGOV UZ
SUBJECT: DISSIDENT POET JUMAEV SENTENCED TO INTERNAL EXILE
REF: TASHKENT 127
Classified By: Political Officer Tim Buckley for reasons 1.4 (B,D)
C O N F I D E N T I A L TASHKENT 000463
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/18/2018
TAGS: PHUM PGOV UZ
SUBJECT: DISSIDENT POET JUMAEV SENTENCED TO INTERNAL EXILE
REF: TASHKENT 127
Classified By: Political Officer Tim Buckley for reasons 1.4 (B,D)
1. (C) On April 15 Reuters reported that dissident poet Yusuf
Jumaev was found guilty in a Bukhara court of discrediting
the authorities, resisting arrest, and harming a police
officer. The charges stem from a December incident in which
Jumaev, who was protesting his son's arrest, allegedly drove
around displaying a placard calling for Karimov's
resignation, and ran down two militsiya officers (reftel).
Jumaev was sentenced to five years in a minimum-security
halfway house, where he will have some freedom but be subject
to monitoring. The information was confirmed by the Human
Rights Watch Researcher in Uzbekistan, Igor Vorontsov, who
closely followed the case from Tashkent and spoke with human
rights activist Surat Ikramov, who attended the trial.
2. (C) A conflicting article on uznews.net on April 15 quoted
Jumaev's attorney, Ruhiddin Kamilov, as saying Jumaev was
sentenced to five years in a "strict-regime prison," but
Vorontsov said the Reuters version was accurate and that
Kamilov was misquoted. Kamilov was apparently dismissed by
his client during the trial, at which time he was removed
from the courtroom and did not witness the remainder of the
proceedings in the one and one-half day trial. Jumaev's son,
Bobur, was recently given a three-year suspended sentence.
3. (C) Ikramov told Reuters the sentence was milder than
expected. Vorontsov agreed that it could have been worse but
added that Human Rights Watch "protests this conviction" on
the grounds that "this person should not have been arrested
in the first place." Jumaev plans to appeal the ruling,
according to Vorontsov, which Human Rights Watch supports.
Comment:
--------------
4. (C) The domestic exile sentence is a throwback to Soviet
times and is not something we have seen here in human rights
cases. It does not strike us as significant in terms of
human rights observance, but it is of course a relief that
Jumaev will not serve in an Uzbek prison and be subjected to
the routine abuse and disease prevalent there. We are
interested in seeing whether the use of internal exile will
become more common. The Uzbek Government has, to a certain
degree, created a problem for itself in the past few years,
by driving an increasing number of political opposition and
human rights activists (often the same people, here) into
self-imposed external exile. Abroad, these individuals have
become significantly more effective in mounting and
coordinating opposition activities, as demonstrated most
recently by the campaign in Europe to boycott Uzbek cotton
products.
NORLAND
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/18/2018
TAGS: PHUM PGOV UZ
SUBJECT: DISSIDENT POET JUMAEV SENTENCED TO INTERNAL EXILE
REF: TASHKENT 127
Classified By: Political Officer Tim Buckley for reasons 1.4 (B,D)
1. (C) On April 15 Reuters reported that dissident poet Yusuf
Jumaev was found guilty in a Bukhara court of discrediting
the authorities, resisting arrest, and harming a police
officer. The charges stem from a December incident in which
Jumaev, who was protesting his son's arrest, allegedly drove
around displaying a placard calling for Karimov's
resignation, and ran down two militsiya officers (reftel).
Jumaev was sentenced to five years in a minimum-security
halfway house, where he will have some freedom but be subject
to monitoring. The information was confirmed by the Human
Rights Watch Researcher in Uzbekistan, Igor Vorontsov, who
closely followed the case from Tashkent and spoke with human
rights activist Surat Ikramov, who attended the trial.
2. (C) A conflicting article on uznews.net on April 15 quoted
Jumaev's attorney, Ruhiddin Kamilov, as saying Jumaev was
sentenced to five years in a "strict-regime prison," but
Vorontsov said the Reuters version was accurate and that
Kamilov was misquoted. Kamilov was apparently dismissed by
his client during the trial, at which time he was removed
from the courtroom and did not witness the remainder of the
proceedings in the one and one-half day trial. Jumaev's son,
Bobur, was recently given a three-year suspended sentence.
3. (C) Ikramov told Reuters the sentence was milder than
expected. Vorontsov agreed that it could have been worse but
added that Human Rights Watch "protests this conviction" on
the grounds that "this person should not have been arrested
in the first place." Jumaev plans to appeal the ruling,
according to Vorontsov, which Human Rights Watch supports.
Comment:
--------------
4. (C) The domestic exile sentence is a throwback to Soviet
times and is not something we have seen here in human rights
cases. It does not strike us as significant in terms of
human rights observance, but it is of course a relief that
Jumaev will not serve in an Uzbek prison and be subjected to
the routine abuse and disease prevalent there. We are
interested in seeing whether the use of internal exile will
become more common. The Uzbek Government has, to a certain
degree, created a problem for itself in the past few years,
by driving an increasing number of political opposition and
human rights activists (often the same people, here) into
self-imposed external exile. Abroad, these individuals have
become significantly more effective in mounting and
coordinating opposition activities, as demonstrated most
recently by the campaign in Europe to boycott Uzbek cotton
products.
NORLAND