UZBEKISTAN ICRC STAFFER ON PRISON VISITS

S E C R E T TASHKENT 000704

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/19/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM UZ
SUBJECT: UZBEKISTAN ICRC STAFFER ON PRISON VISITS

Classified By: Ambassador Richard B. Norland; reasons 1.4(b) and (d).


1. (S) Summary. As she prepares to depart Uzbekistan after
several months working on ICRC prison visits, an ICRC
Delegate (strictly protect) shared observations with the
Ambassador regarding pressures which lead law enforcement
officials to engage in torture and judicial officials to
tolerate it, the dangerous character of some of Uzbekistan's
religious prisoners, and the counterproductive nature of
public pressure on the Uzbeks to reform. End Summary.


2. (S) At a dinner in honor of visiting former Belgian
Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene, Ambassador was seated next
to Alexandra Khoudokormoff, a Belgian national who is a
Delegate with the International Committee of the Red Cross
regional delegation in Central Asia, based in Tashkent. Ms.
Khoudokormoff is wrapping up her second tour in Uzbekistan.
She served here several years ago for over two years, and was
asked to come back in March when the ICRC reached agreement
with the government of Uzbekistan on resuming prison visits.
She is a fluent Russian speaker and an astute, impartial
observer. Her comments were made candidly and need to be
fully protected in light of her status as an ICRC Delegate.


3. (S) Statistics: Ms. Khoudokormoff blamed much of the
mishandling, abuse and torture of detainees and prisoners on
the ripple effects of a system that has not evolved much from
the Soviet era. Police officials and prosecutors are
expected to show glowing monthly and quarterly statistics on
the numbers of crimes "solved" in their jurisdictions. The
figures that emerge are preposterous -- claims of a "97
percent" success rate in solving crimes in some regions, for
example, when even police departments in some American cities
are lucky to solve more than 50 percent of certain crimes.
To achieve these numbers, she said, officials routinely abuse
detainees, particularly in the initial phases of an
investigation before charges have been filed and before
trial, in an effort to extract confessions. Often, known
criminals who have admitted to one crime -- a murder, for
example -- will be pressured to confess to other similar
crimes that have occurred in the area, encouraged by promises
that admitting to the additional crimes will only lead to
marginal additional prison sentences. To reduce abuse,
Uzbekistan needs to get away from its Soviet-era obsession
with statistics, she said.


4. (S) Judges: Asked why some judges appear to ignore
prisoners' pleas that they have been tortured into making
false confessions, Ms. Khoudokormoff said that by that point
"it is too late" to reverse what has happened in pre-trial
detention. By then, she explained, police officials and
prosecutors themselves are too committed to the falsehoods
they have signed on to for them to be able to reverse
themselves. For judges to challenge them not only is
difficult in terms of bureaucracy and paperwork but would
imperil the relationships they need with prosecutors to carry
out their jobs. Ms. Khoudokormoff stated that Uzbekistan's
new "habeas corpus" law is helping, but that further reforms
to enhance the authority of judges are badly needed.


5. (S) Prisoners: Ms. Khoudokormoff confirmed reports we
have received separately that the ICRC prison visit regime
which recommenced in March is working according to plan. She
lamented only that ICRC did not have enough teams to cover
more prisons faster. She said the prison visits did not
depress her so much as leave her astounded by the range of
"characters" she met there who appreciated the opportunity to
tell her their life stories. Commenting on prisoners
detained because of their alleged extremist Islamic views,
however, Khoudokormoff expressed real concern that several of
these individuals represented dangerous threats to normal
society. Many of them were uneducated and had clearly been
manipulated into embracing extreme views on the formation of
a Caliphate through violent revolution. She acknowledged
that prison itself might be a radicalizing experience for
some of these individuals and approved of cases where
prisoners had been released under various forms of monitoring
to ensure good behavior. Her strongest recommendation was
that, as had happened in Russia, responsibility for the
prison system eventually be shifted from the Ministry of
Internal Affairs to the Ministry of Justice. (Comment: Some
observers believe the MOJ is still far from ready for this.)


6. (S) Naming and Shaming: Ms. Khoudokormoff lamented the
ICRC's decision four years ago to publicly notify embassies
and international organizations of its dissatisfaction with
the Uzbek government's handling of prison visits and its
decision to suspend visits on the grounds that normal ICRC
procedures were not being observed. Going "public" in this
fashion had generated a visceral Uzbek reaction stemming from
loss of face, and basically led to a four-year hiatus in
prison visits which was only broken when agreement was
reached, with U.S. assistance, in March of this year.
Khoudokormoff said she believed that engagement, dialogue and
private disagreement were much better tools if any hope was
to emerge for progress on human rights in Uzbekistan.


7. (S) Comment: As she prepares to depart Tashkent, Ms.
Khoudokormoff clearly evinces the mixture of frustration and
impatience which is felt by all of us grappling with human
rights issues in Uzbekistan. Most interesting, however, was
her adamant rejection of public pressure on the Uzbeks as a
way of driving progress. This is consistent with our
observations over the past several months. The "mobilization
of shame" may have worked as a tactic in some places, but in
Uzbekistan what is needed is an international commitment to
mobilize reform through engagement, dialogue and
behind-the-scenes diplomatic pressure in an effort to bring
an entire society that knows it cannot live Soviet-style
forever (not just its isolated leader, President Karimov)
kicking and screaming into the 21st Century.
NORLAND