Translation of Bahadir Namazov’s post.

Recently I wrote about Tashkent rights activist Farhodhon Mukhtarov in my “The Black Clouds” Above Human Rights Activist Farhodhon Mukhtarov” article. Almost a month passed but “the black clouds” haven’t dissipated; instead they became thicker and darker. The last news about him is that on July 18, 2009 he was arrested by the Yunus-Abad district police department.

Farhodhon Mukhtarov who decided to put an end in his case (for details read “The Black Clouds” Above Human Rights Activist Farhodhon Mukhtarov), wrote a statement to the prosecutor’s office of the Yunus-Abad district on the same district police department’s investigator Tukhtasin Baymatov. But when he arrived to the prosecutor’s office at approximately 15.00 (local time) the prosecutor did not find anything better but to report about it to the police station. As usual, Uzbek police responded immediately, and arrested Mukhtarov directly at the prosecutor’s office. After that he was brought to the Yunus-Abad police station.

Human rights activist Tatyana Dovlatova:

“I received a call from Farkhodhon Mukhtarov around 16.00. He told me: “Tatyana, let everybody know that I’m being arrested and they want to bring me to the police station.” I knew that that day Farhodhon was going to write a statement to the prosecutor’s office. I called our colleagues quickly and me, Oleg Sarapulov, Anatoliy Volkov and Farida Istanbaeva decided to go to the Yunusabad police station to clarify what was going on. We were rejected to enter the building an were told that there is nobody inside of it. After we wrote a poster demanding a meeting with heads of the police station and launched it and began to picket and call for attention we were allowed to meet the Deputy Lieutenant Abdugaffar Kayumov.”

Human rights activist Oleg Sarapulov:

“Everybody tries to tell us a lie: at the entrance to the police station guard cheated that there was nobody of the police bosses. Deputy head of police station Kayumov cheated that Mukhtarov was arrested for 24-hours due to the fact that he allegedly failed to appear when was summoned by the investigator which means that he was hiding from justice. We know that Mukhtarov, on the contrary, came to the police station that day, but wasn’t allowed to go inside of it simply because investigator Boimatov hasn’t yet completeled his fabricated case against Mukhtarov and his witnesses-provocateurs didn’t show up that moment. We have accompanied him for several times to his appearance and he has never tried hide to hide from anybody.”

This rasies many question: why we, rights activists or Mukhtarov’s relatives are not allowed to go in the police station? What do they want to hide? Why are they cheating? Why are they afraid to meet with relatives of the detainee?

In fact, all questions have answers. Uncertainty and deception (what else can we expect from law enforcement system, when the whole system is built on lies and deception) is always used for their profits. In many cases, law enforcement officers use this to their mercantile interests. When they want to get something from the relatives and friends of detainees they can easily find a way to it.

According to various reports, there are solid rates for the seats: to become a district police investigator one should pay $3000-4500; the higher the seat the you should pay. And after one becomes investigator he wants his money back: to get one year less one should bribe them for $1000-1200; to be a subject to amnesty one should pay several millions [of Uzbek soums]…

Revenons a nos moutons… Suddenly bosses of the Yunusabad district police decided to meet with rights activists; and they behaved themselves very strange.

Hikmet Ahtamov, first Deputy Chief of the police station, got angry with them and accused them in hiding something underneath their clothes and calmed down after he realized they had nothing to hide.

Farkhod Mirzaev, Chief of the police station, who came later was showing everybody a paper with “prosecutor’s order” for Mukhtarov’s arrest but never let us read it.

Tatyana Dovlatovs:

“Farkhod Mirzaev thought that I was Mukhtarov’s relative and told me to make him [Farkhod Mukhtarov] return the money he received from Sadikbekova. And activist Farida Istanbaeva asked him “how much will be your share from that money”. By watching at Oleg Sarapulov and Farida Istanbaeva he added [to me]: “You better not to trust these human rights activists! This will only aggravate Mukhtarov’s case.”

Chief’s statement could be understood in different means and one of them is “Bring the money to those people you should and the case you’ll be done with Mukhtarov’s case.”

It is very surprisingly that if Farhodhon Mukhtarov is suspected of fraud and they have a proof of it why he was not arrested earlier then. Or maybe they simply waited when he comes with a frank confession to the prosecutor’s office? Why the Chief did not give us the “order” so that we could read it? Why do people from the prosecutor’s office say one thing and police officers say different thing?

All this indicates that case against Farhodhon Mukhtarov is fabricated.

Human rights activists Tatyana Dovlatova, Oleg Sarapulov, Anatoly Volkov and Farida Istanbaeva are sure that everything against Mukhtarov is done in order to make him silent about human rights violations in Uzbekistan and that it is ordinary for law enforcement bodies to implement pressure on independent human rights activists in our country. Mukhtarov allies are going top fight till the end, they believe that their colleague is innocent and law-enforcement bodies will not be able to break his strenght.

Bakhadir Namazov, independent journalist and human rights activist

July 18, 2009, Tashkent

On photo: Farhodhon Mukhtarov