Maidan

The Islam Karimov GULAG
Preface to the memoirs of an Uzbek prisoner
The author of these autobiographical notes is Uzbekistan national Mukhammadsolykh Abutov who served eight and a half years in Uzbekistan labour camps for his religious beliefs.
This document requires no commentary; it needs only to be read. What Abutov went through has been the fate of thousands of his compatriots, citizens of a country with which enlightened Europe is seeking to establish “constructive dialogue”, and for this reason is removing the sanctions imposed after on Uzbekistan after the Andijon Tragedy..
«Stalin would have probably been jealous if he’d found out that there are people in this world even better than him at frightening people» - we read in Mukhammadsolykh’s testimony.
Three years after his release, Abutov is again in custody – this time in Russia since the Uzbekistan authorities are again persecuting him for religious motives and demanding his extradition.
On 13 May 2007 he was detained in Moscow region by Krasnogorsk officers … of the Service of National Security [SNB] of Uzbekistan which brought him to the Krasnogorsk Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Having discovered that his name was not on the international wanted list, the police officers promised to cover the “remiss work” of their Uzbek guests if the necessary documents were sent from Uzbekistan. They stated furthermore that next time the guests “shouldn’t come empty-handed”. According to Mukhammadsolykh, the conversation took place in his presence.
He was soon presented with an Uzbek warrant from 26.02.2007 for his arrest on the charge that in 1998, while serving a sentence in a penal colony in Uzbekistan, he allegedly organized a religious extremist organization, consisting of himself and two other prisoners.
The author of the memoirs writes about what the “religious extremist organization” was – these were people subjected to vicious torture who prayed together and dreamed of being released.
From pre-trial detention centre [SIZO] 50/10 Mozhaisk where Abutov was put for the period of the extradition investigation, he sent an application to the Migration Service office for the Moscow region asking to be granted refugee status in the Russian Federation.
All of his predecessors have received notifications of rejections of such applications. The grounds given are always virtually the same, regardless of the region of Russia where the application for asylum is being considered. It boils down to the statement that the applicant has no grounds for receiving refugee status and is trying to escape punishment for a crime committed.
The Federal Migration Service works on the assumption that “in accordance with the Constitution (Article 31) and the laws of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the country’s citizens, regardless of their nationality, social position, religion and political convictions, have equal civic rights and freedoms. In general these norms are fully enough implemented in practice” (a document from the FMS of Russia, February 2007). This implacable conviction is confirmed by the view of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia which “does not have any documented evidence of persecution of Uzbekistan nationals <> by the Uzbek authorities on the basis of race, religion, citizenship, nationality and political convictions, nor documented evidence of the use of torture and other ill-treatment of people facing criminal prosecution.” (Letter from MFA of the RF to the FMS on 26.02.2007).
The autobiography of Mukhammadsolykh Abutov is the best commentary against these assertions just as against the responses of the Prosecutor General of Russia to all appeals from the Civic Assistance Committee regarding the unacceptability of the use of torture to remand and convicted prisoners in this country. Both in these letters, and in the rulings on extradition, the Prosecutor General refers to assurances provided by the Uzbekistan side, which the world-renowned organizations Human Rights Watch has correctly said are “not worth the paper they’re written on”.
In concluding this preface, we would merely point out the obvious: by handing over to the Uzbekistan regime people persecuted on political or religious grounds, Russia becomes an accomplice to the crimes.
“Tell me who your friend is, and I’ll tell you who you are”.
Yelena Ryabinina,
The Civic Assistance Committee

Oops – technology reigns, and I give up – the actual autobiography can be found by pressing:
http://www.khpg.org.ua/en/index.php?id=1194285574