Uzbek authorities should immediately quash the convictions and release two wrongfully imprisoned activists, Human Rights Watch and Uzbek Forum for Human Rights said today. An appeals court in Qarshi is scheduled to resume hearings in the case of Nargiz Keldiyorova and Dildora Khakimova on September 18, 2024.
A court in Kashkadarya on July 18 sentenced Khakimova and Keldiyorova to six years and one month and six-and-a-half years in prison, respectively, on dubious extortion charges. Keldiyorova was also found guilty of "attempting to overthrow the constitutional order" and "insulting the president online." Khakimova, who has breast cancer, gave birth in mid-September. So long as she remains imprisoned, the authorities need to ensure that she and her newborn child receive prompt and appropriate medical care.
"Uzbek authorities brought a baseless case against two activists to silence independent voices," said Mihra Rittmann, senior Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch. "Then they raised a basic injustice to outright cruelty by compromising the health of a mother and her newborn child."
At the time, the court also sentenced five other codefendants to between five years of restricted freedom and six years in prison, also on dubious extortion charges.
There are grave concerns for Khakimova's health, the two rights groups said. After she gave birth, her doctor said that her condition had worsened and that she needs urgent treatment at an oncology hospital, her husband told the Uzbek Forum for Human Rights. He also said that the detention center where Khakimova was being held with her baby provided a letter, dated September 14, saying that they cannot provide adequate conditions to care for a newborn, as stipulated in a 2022 presidential decree "on protecting motherhood and childhood."
The authorities brought criminal charges against the defendants in February and a court ordered that five of the seven, including Keldiyorova and Khakimova, be held in pretrial detention. The indictment alleges that Keldiyorova had organized a criminal gang to extort money from several individuals by threatening to reveal confidential and defamatory information about them online and via local media.
However, the counts of alleged extortion detailed in the indictment are largely unconnected to one another, and several of the defendants testified that they did not know one another. The verdict also lacks material evidence connecting the defendants to the alleged crimes, the rights groups said.
Keldiyorova, 44, a member of the human rights organization Ezgulik, has in recent years collaborated with the Uzbek Forum for Human Rights and independent news agencies, including Radio Ozodlik and Eltuz Media. She helped gather information on forced and child labor, farmers' rights, land confiscation, and corruption in the education system in Kashkadarya region, and often gave media interviews on these issues.
Khakimova, 40, who works as a teacher at a local school, has regularly commented on social media about corruption in the education system in Kashkadarya region and has served as a public interest representative in local cases. Khakimova has also collaborated with one of the other defendants, Shukrullo Parpiev, 44, who is the head of a small firm called "Blogger-Defenders" and a member of the Independent Human Rights Organization, a local rights group. Another three defendants - Shakhnoza Safarova, Farogat Mamatova, and Oydin Rustamova - also worked at local schools. The verdict indicates that the seventh defendant, Musallam Umirova, was employed at an entity called Republican Social Security Society.
The case seems to spring from a complaint filed by the former director of a local school, who was fired from her post in 2023 for misconduct. The school director's alleged misconduct was the topic of frequent complaints by the school's staff, including Khakimova, and Keldiyorova.
The authorities contended that several of the defendants had extorted money from the former director, citing a transfer of 10 million soms (US$790) to Parpiev's business account and another 3 million soms ($240) paid in cash. However, the verdict does not indicate any evidence tying that money to an act of extortion. Keldiyorova's lawyer noted at the trial that the criminal case contains Khakimova's statement to the Karshi District Department of Internal Affairs requesting the police to investigate the former director's actions.
The verdict also does not cite any evidence that Keldiyorova received or accessed any of the money the prosecution accused her of extorting. Her conviction rests solely on unsubstantiated allegations by the local school's former director.
The court additionally found Keldiyorova guilty of "attempting to overthrow the constitutional order" and "insulting the president online" for comments she had made in private voice messages in Telegram, a social messaging application, referring to protests in Kazakhstan and Karakalpakstan in 2022 and about Uzbekistan's president, respectively.
A state-ordered linguistic analysis of her comments related to the protests concluded that she was trying to "destabilize the socio-political situation in Uzbekistan" and that her comments about the president amounted to "insulting the president on social networks," a crime punishable by a maximum five-year prison sentence.
The court dismissed the prosecution's claims that the defendants were acting as a criminal group, with the judge noting in the verdict that the defendants were not "acting as members of the same criminal group." Yet the judge found all seven defendants guilty under article 165 of Uzbekistan's criminal code for carrying out "extortion by prior agreement of a group of persons." The verdict does not explain this discrepancy.
The prosecution of activists known for raising concerns about corruption and other economic and social issues demonstrates the deteriorating climate for activism and human rights protection in the country, the two rights groups said.
Freedom of expression is guaranteed by Uzbekistan's Constitution and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Uzbekistan is a party.
The authorities should immediately quash the verdicts in this case against Keldiyorova and Khakimova and allow them to peacefully express their views, the rights groups said. The authorities should also ensure that both Khakimova and her newborn get the medical attention they need. All the defendants should get a fair and impartial appeals hearing, with their due process rights upheld and respected.
"Criminal proceedings should never have been brought against these activists in the first place," said Umida Niyazova, director of the Uzbek Forum for Human Rights. "Added to that is the prospect of the state cruelly and groundlessly depriving Khakimova of the medical care she and her newborn child need."
