HRF has received a desperate letter containing disturbing updates about Uzbekistan’s treatment of detained Karakalpak activist, Dauletmurat Tazhimuratov.
Mr. Tazhimuratov, represented by the Human Rights Foundation (HRF) as a part of its impact litigation program, has been detained in Uzbekistan since July 2022. He is a lawyer and journalist from Karakalpakstan, a sovereign republic within Uzbekistan. In 2022, he spoke out against proposed constitutional amendments that would have removed Karakalpakstan’s sovereign status, and called on Karakalpaks to peacefully protest the proposal.
The Uzbek regime responded harshly to those protests, leaving around two dozen people dead and more than 270 injured. In the aftermath, rather than providing justice for the victims, Uzbekistan’s government focused its energy on cracking down on Karakalpak activists and peaceful protesters.
Mr. Tazhimuratov has taken the brunt of that crackdown. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison — the longest of any of the Karakalpak defendants — on politically motivated charges including conspiracy to overthrow the government, inciting mass riots, and threatening national security. His time in prison has been marked by gross mistreatment and torture; the prison administration has subjected Mr. Tazhimuratov to constant beatings, verbal abuse, and humiliation, all designed to silence him and erase his Karakalpak identity.
Most recently, the Uzbek regime tacked more charges onto his existing conviction, bringing his total sentence to nearly 18 years and moving him to a high-security facility in a remote region of Uzbekistan — all to isolate him from the outside world.
According to Mr. Tazhimuratov’s letter, his treatment at the high-security prison has only worsened. He is being held in a crowded cell where he is constantly surveilled and denied access to basic necessities. Still, he has not been silenced. His recent letter shares horrifying details of his situation.
As I write this letter now, many thoughts are going through my mind, as though I were standing beneath the gallows, because there are eight of us in a cell measuring 4 by 5 meters, seven of whom are ‘lokhmachi’, prison informants, while a guard watches through the peephole, and there is also a video camera. In the 21st century, I am being held in a cell without a proper floor. It has been 60 days since I last had access to a bathhouse; I wash myself in the toilet.
In the letter, he observes with irony that “Robinson Crusoe probably lived better than I do,” as he describes harrowing acts of torture and violence inflicted upon him. Often, Mr. Tazhimuratov states, while prison officials are beating him with sticks or forcibly shaving his head, the guards attempt to force him to sing the Uzbek national anthem or otherwise declare that he is Uzbek, denying his Karakalpak identity.
On July 8, the head of the security regime …. together with four officers, beat me while dragging me along the ground ….. For an entire week, I passed blood when using the toilet.
The letter also contains disturbing reports that the regime not only denies him basic necessities, but also religious items, violating his right to freedom of belief and worship. It states that he is regularly subjected to severe beatings by both prison officials and other detainees acting on behalf of the prison administration.
They do not provide religious books. Prayer beads are forbidden. They took away my prayer mat, clothing, and even toothpicks under the pretext of conducting a search.
For more than four years, Mr. Tazhimuratov has suffered at the hands of the Uzbek regime. Today, desperate for someone to listen to his plight, he is pleading with the international community to insist that the regime comply with its human rights obligations.
I ask you to put the Nelson Mandela Rules and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights into practice; otherwise, these documents are merely gathering dust. … [T]here is not even the first letter of the word ‘Law’ here.
HRF stands with Dauletmurat Tazhimuratov. The relentless persecution of Mr. Tazhimuratov must end now. Uzbekistan must treat him and all prisoners with dignity and respect their fundamental human rights. The government must immediately provide religious items, adequate accommodations, and access to hygiene products and medical treatment. These are guarantees owed to any human being, and it is unacceptable that Uzbekistan is failing to meet even such basic standards.
HRF does not accept this failure by the Uzbek government and neither should the international community. All countries must press Uzbekistan to cease its physical, verbal, and mental abuse of Mr. Tazhimuratov and insist on a thorough investigation into his treatment. Most of all, HRF demands that Uzbekistan comply with the decision of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and release Mr. Tazhimuratov from arbitrary detention immediately.
I beg you to help me and protect a man who, having already been knocked down, is still being beaten.
