ACTIVIST REPORTS ON DEATH PENALTY COMMUTATIONS AND

C O N F I D E N T I A L TASHKENT 000701

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SCA/CEN AND DRL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/19/2018
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL UZ
SUBJECT: ACTIVIST REPORTS ON DEATH PENALTY COMMUTATIONS AND
PRISON CONDITIONS

REF: TASHKENT 609

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


1. (C) Summary: On June 12, Mothers Against the Death Penalty
and Torture Chairwoman Tamara Chikunova reported that
Uzbekistan's Supreme Court had completed its review of more
than forty death penalty cases following the abolishment of
the death penalty on January 1, 2008. The Supreme Court
commuted approximately 12 of the death sentences to life
imprisonment and the rest to 25 years' imprisonment. While
Chikunova recognized the abolishment of the death penalty as
a positive phenomenon, she criticized the lack of
transparency around the Supreme Court's review of the cases.
She also reported that all individuals given life
imprisonment will serve their sentences at a newly
constructed facility in Jaslyk in Karakalpakstan (which
stands alongside an older prison),where conditions are
reportedly better than what was previously the case on death
row. What Chikunova reported on the implementation of the
law abolishing the death penalty generally tracked with what
we have heard from other human rights activists. End
summary.

SUPREME COURT COMPLETES REVIEW OF DEATH PENALTY CASES
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2. (C) On June 12, poloff met with Mothers Against the Death
Penalty and Torture Chairwoman Tamara Chikunova, who reported
that Uzbekistan's Supreme Court had completed its review of
death penalty cases following the abolishment of the death
penalty on January 1, 2008. Between January and April, the
Supreme Court reviewed more than forty individual death
penalty cases. Chikunova reported that the Supreme Court
commuted approximately 12 death sentences to life
imprisonment, while it commuted the rest to 25 years'
imprisonment. She noted that the Supreme Court also had the
option of commuting death sentences to 20 years'
imprisonment, but it did not exercise that option any of the
cases. Chikunova confirmed that the last known execution in
Uzbekistan occurred in March 2005.

SUPREME COURT'S REVIEW LACKS TRANSPARENCY
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3. (C) Chikunova recognized that the abolishment of the
death penalty was an overall positive step by the government,
but she was also critical of how the abolishment was
implemented in practice, particularly the lack of
transparency around the Supreme Court's review of the cases.
She reported that neither lawyers nor family members were
allowed to attend the Supreme Court's review sessions.
Afterwards, they reportedly received little more than a
document stating that the Supreme Court had reviewed a
particular case and commuted the death sentence to either
life imprisonment or 25 years' imprisonment.


4. (C) Chikunova also showed poloff an Uzbek government
publication containing opinions of Supreme Court judges on
how the abolishment of the death penalty was to be
implemented in practice. The publication was originally
published in November 2007, but was only made publicly
available after the Supreme Court had completed its review of
death penalty cases. Chikunova reported that the government
never spelled out what criteria would be used to determine
whether death sentences would be commuted to life or a
fixed-term of imprisonment. In the publication, Chikunova
found one reference stating that the Supreme Court could only
commute death sentences to life imprisonment "under
extraordinary circumstances," but it is unclear what
constituted "extraordinary circumstances." Given everything
she knew about the forty-odd cases, which she had followed

closely over the years, Chikunova said that she could divine
little reason why the sentences of some individuals were
commuted to life imprisonment, while others received a 25
year sentence.

OTHER NEGATIVE ASPECTS OF DEATH PENALTY ABOLISHMENT LAW
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5. (C) Chikunova pointed out other negative aspects of the
law abolishing the death penalty. In particular, she noted
that under the new law, individuals sentenced to life in
prison may be visited by relatives only once a year.
Previously, family members could visit their relatives on
death row once a month. Furthermore, the law specifies that
individuals with life sentences can only have one ten-minute
phone with their relatives a year.

PARDON AND PAROLE POSSIBILITIES
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6. (C) Chikunova reported that prisoners serving a life
sentence in Uzbekistan may be pardoned or paroled after
serving 15 years. However, a pardon in Uzbekistan does not
necessarily mean an individual is released from prison, but
instead can result in a life sentence being converted to a
fixed-term sentence. In theory, an individual with a life
sentence could serve 15 years in prison, receive a "pardon,"
and then serve another 25 years in prison under a
fixed-sentence.

CHIKUNOVA REPORTS BETTER CONDITIONS AT NEW JASLYK PRISON
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7. (C) Chikunova reported that all individuals given life
sentences would be housed at a new prison constructed in
Jaslyk, alongside the older Jaslyk prison (which gained
notoriety for housing many of Uzbekistan's political and
religious prisons and its poor conditions). Chikunova
reported that individuals previously on death row have
already been transferred to the new prison. Family members
have reported that conditions there were better than at most
other Uzbek prisons. In contrast to the time they were on
death row, inmates at the new prison are granted three hot
meals a day, as well as new uniforms and linen. Family
members are also able to deliver care packages to their
relatives, whereas before prison authorities prevented them
from doing so. She noted speaking to one father who reported
that for the first time in six years, he was able to provide
his son with new underwear and toiletries. However, family
members are reportedly only allowed to provide care packages
once a year.

CRITICISM OF OTHER ACTIVISTS
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8. (C) Chikunova was critical of human rights activists who
reported only on negative developments in Uzbekistan.
Instead, she argued that the human rights picture in
Uzbekistan continued to be mixed, with both improvements and
some setbacks. She believed that the new law abolishing the
death penalty was a perfect case in point, with both positive
and negative aspects. Furthermore, Chikunova pointed out
that the large majority of individuals in Uzbek prisons were
not political prisoners. She feared that ordinary prisoners
were neglected by human rights activists. In contrast,
Chikunova said that she personally avoided covering the cases
of political prisoners, instead preferring to focus on the
cases of ordinary citizens.

COMMENT
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9. (C) We are glad to hear that conditions at the new prison
in Jaslyk appear to be an improvement over the conditions
that existed on death row. What Chikunova reported to us
about the Supreme Court commuting death penalty cases and
sending individuals with life sentences to a new prison in
Jaslyk also generally tracks with what we have heard recently
from other human rights activists (reftel). We have now
heard from several unconnected groups of human rights
activists over the past year that conditions are improving at
Uzbek prisons, which suggests that the government is making
an effort to improve the situation. Our primary policy tool
to further this process should remain our support for the
continuation of the International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC) prison visits. However, we will need to track the
procedures that could result in meaningless "pardons."
NORLAND