Uzbekistan: HIV/AIDS Activist Sentenced to Seven Years in

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TASHKENT 000103 SENSITIVE SIPDIS AMEMBASSY ASTANA PASS TO AMCONSUL ALMATY AMEMBASSY MOSCOW PASS TO AMCONSUL VLADIVOSTOK AMEMBASSY MOSCOW PASS TO AMCONSUL YEKATERINBURG AMEMBASSY HELSINKI PASS TO AMCONSUL ST PETERSBURG AMEMBASSY ATHENS PASS TO AMCONSUL THESSALONIKI AMEMBASSY BELGRADE PASS TO AMEMBASSY PODGORICA E.O. 12958: DECL: 2020/02/26 TAGS: PREL PHUM ELAB PGOV AID UZ SUBJECT: Uzbekistan: HIV/AIDS Activist Sentenced to Seven Years in Prison CLASSIFIED BY: Holly Lindquist Thomas, P/E Officer, Tashkent; REASON: 1.4(B),(D) ¶1. (SBU) Summary: It is emerging that a Tashkent Criminal Court last year sentenced Maksim Popov, a psychologist and HIV/AIDS activist, to seven years in prison on charges related to an HIV/AIDS prevention booklet that his NGO distributed, as well as financial improprieties related to grant funding he received. The booklet in question included explicit language about proper condom usage and warned against the dangers of needle-sharing among drug users. Initially held in a facility in the central Uzbekistan city of Navoi, he has reportedly been transferred to a general prison colony in Tashkent to serve out his sentence. End summary. ¶2. (SBU) Authorities arrested Popov in January 2009 and in September found him guilty of "involving minors in antisocial behavior" and "involving people in using drugs or psychotropic substances," (Art. 127 and 274 of the Uzbek Criminal Code). The Court reportedly burned the ten copies of the book it had confiscated. Popov was also found guilty of embezzlement (Art. 167),concealment of foreign currency (Art. 178),and tax evasion (Art. 184). The Court sentenced him in September 2009, but the sentence was not announced publicly until February 22. ¶3. (SBU) The court's decision in the case states that the Central Asia office of Population Services International (PSI) developed and published the booklet in Almaty, then supplied 200 copies to Popov's NGO ("Izis") for distribution. (Note: According to USAID sources, PSI did not develop the booklet, rather it was photocopied from a Kyrgyz NGO that developed it independently.) An Ozodlik (RFE/RL) report on Popov's sentencing includes long quotes from the booklet in question that detail very explicitly the proper way to put on and use a condom. The booklet also reportedly warned against the dangers of needle-sharing among drug users. The court stated that the booklet contradicted the "national traditions of the people" and amounted to pornography. According to the verdict, Popov's NGO distributed the booklet to anti-AIDS centers in Tashkent and the Ferghana Valley cities of Margilan, Kuva, and Kokand. Regarding the financial charges, the verdict states that Popov mishandled grant funding, failing to put the funding in a bank account (required by law) and using it for his own personal purposes. ¶4. (SBU) Popov, only 28 years old, has been an active force in the area of HIV/AIDS prevention, starting his NGO with young medical and mental health workers and received funding from several international donors, including USAID, for work on such things as counseling services, AIDS hotlines, and anti-drug education for youth. (Note: USAID has not funded his organization for about two years, and did not fund the pamphlet in question.) A Facebook page has been set up in his support, and it makes no mention of the booklets in question. It states that Popov was convicted of "improper use of needles" and fiscal impropriety. The page blames the Uzbek government for the financial charges, noting that officials frequently harass NGOs with accusations of tax evasion and violating restrictions on access to foreign funds. Comment -------------- ¶5. (C) Information on this case is only just now coming out. Little is known about the details beyond what is stated in the verdict, and indeed the court decision was under the radar of most Uzbekistan-watchers until the Open Society Institute got a hold of TASHKENT 00000103 002 OF 002 it and alerted journalists. Ozodlik's extensive quotations from the booklet suggest that the journalist has seen it directly, but Ozodlik reported the name of the booklet as "HIV & AIDS Today," whereas Open Society tells us that the book was titled "Healthy Way of Life: Guidance for Teachers in the 21st Century." PSI closed its Uzbekistan operations in 2008, and so far its Central Asia regional office, located in Almaty, has been unavailable for comment. Officials at UNICEF, which has funded Popov's projects in the past, were not following the case, and UNODC knew nothing about it, although an unnamed staff person was quoted on an internet news site as saying that the brochure did not promote drugs, but on the contrary, helped addicts avoid mistakes while using needles. ¶6. (C) USAID staff speculate that a new committee under the Cabinet of Ministers responsible for screening publications on population and health issues may have been responsible for initiating the criminal investigation of the booklet. (Rumor has it that the committee is even reviewing older, previously permitted publications.) It is not unreasonable to believe that some official or committee found that the booklet in question was not in line with "Uzbek values," and should not be available to the public. This notion of Uzbek values, alluded to in the verdict as "national traditions," seems increasingly the basis for charges challenging freedom of expression, such as in the case of photographer Umida Akhmedova. As for the financial charges, it is difficult to know whether they are based in fact, but the Facebook page was correct in saying that this type of accusation is used frequently as a basis for harassment and intimidation of NGOs. Whatever the details, a seven year prison sentence is severe and seems to portend the start of a potentially ominous trend. End comment. NORLAND NORLAND