On 10 October 2005 activists from Amnesty International led a protest in Moscow against the death penalty, torture and repressions in Uzbekistan. They used symbolic human figures of ?silent witnesses? on which they put the names of real people who are subject to torture and condemned to death. (12-OCT-2005)
The participants of the protest demanded that the Government of Uzbekistan introduce a moratorium on using the death penalty, lead an investigation based on information about the use torture and free prisoners of conscience. Sergey Nikitin, the director of the Russian Resource Centre of Amnesty International, and Denis Krivosheev, PR Campaigns Officer for the Russian Resource Centre of Amnesty International, gave to representatives of the Uzbekistan Embassy in Moscow their written appeal to the Government of Uzbekistan.
The question about the death penalty became more important after the events on 12-13 May 2005 when the army shut down a peaceful demonstration in Andijan. After this, the government of Uzbekistan closed its borders to foreign journalists and international organizations and began covering up the suppression of this demonstration by repressing the witnesses of this event, human rights activists and journalists. A special concern of Amnesty International is the personal security of human rights activists who, despite huge risks, have dared to act with condemnation of the facts of infringement of human rights in Uzbekistan.
Thus, a famous human rights activist Saidzhakhon Zaynabitdinov, chairman of the human rights organization “Appeal”, told international journalists about the shooting of peaceful citizens in Andijan on 13 of May 2005. His evidence differs from the official version. On 21 May 2005 Saidzhakhon Zaynabitdinov was put under arrest. He is accused of distributing false information with the purpose of spreading panic and of being a terrorist, a crime punished by the death penalty.
Denis Krivosheev said that they have eye-witness information that there were thousands of people who were detained on false accusations and who were subject to torture and beatings to make them plead guilty. People are being beaten violently, strangled by plastic bags and gas masks, parts of their bodies are burned, needles are driven under their nails and they are tortured by electric shocks and forced administration of drugs. Most often blackmailing the victim with physical violence against their families, is enough to brake them. Some people are condemned to the death and waiting for their execution. Some people have already been shot.
Amnesty International demands that Saidzhakhon Zaynabitdinov and other people, who were accused because they had informed the world about the facts of human rights violations in Uzbekistan, be freed. President Karimov (left, photo: AP) has to stop these mass human rights violations that are managed under the cover of the “war against terrorism” and accuse those people using torture and others forms of brutal treatment.
Source: http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGEUR620232005
http://www.amnesty.org.ru/pages/rus-041005-news-rus
Photo with Karimov: Anmesty Intenetional
