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Tajikistan
1721. By letter dated 15 November 2004, the Special Rapporteur notified the Government that he had received allegations concerning:
1722. Vladimir Vasilchikov, a 41 year-old preacher of the Awakening Baptist Church, Nurek, Viktor Dudenkov, age 35, and his wife, Elena Dudenkova. Between 16 and 23 June 2004, they were held at the local police station for questioning in connection with the disappearance of Vladimir Vasilchikov’s mother, and beaten in order to extract a confession. On 21 June, Viktor Dudenkov was beaten for three hours, including on the temples, neck and kicked in the chest when he fell on the ground. He was forced to stand up whenever he fell down. He was ordered to remove his shirt when traces of the interrogators’ boots became visible on it. Vladimir Vasilchikov was beaten on the face, stomach, chest and left shoulder. Elena Dudenkova was insulted, forced to stand up for several hours and denied food and drink. Police officers repeatedly turned down the requests of a lawyer to see Viktor Dudenkov and Vladimir Vasilchikov. On 23 June, Vladimir Vasilchikov was forced to sign a document stating that he was not beaten and would abstain from making any complaints. That day he was taken to Vakhdat for a medical examination, conducted in the presence of a senior policeman and a procuracy official from Nurek, and for which the doctor did not take notes of the injuries. On 25 June 2004, the two men were examined at the Republican Centre of Forensic Medicine, Dushanbe, where it was found that they suffered from concussions and head injuries. Both men were hospitalized for two weeks. On 5 August, it is reported that the procuracy of Khatlon region closed the investigation into the allegations of ill-treatment, which was confirmed by a decision of the General Procuracy on 28 October 2004.
1723. Saidamir Karimov, Pyanzh village. He was detained in May 2001, held incommunicado at the Temporary Detention Premises in Dushanbe, and sentenced to death on 27 March 2002 for a murder, based on a confession extracted under torture, which included beatings and electric shocks to the anus, genitals, fingers, nose and ears. Moreover, he was threatened that his mother would be arrested if he did not sign the prepared statement. On 29 May 2002, his appeal was rejected by the Supreme Court. The United Nations Human Rights Committee urged the authorities on 24 September 2002 to put the executions on hold while the cases were being considered by the Committee. His death sentence was commuted to 25 years’ imprisonment by the Supreme Court on 3 December 2002. No investigations into the allegations of torture have been undertaken.
Urgent appeals
1724. On 5 March 2004, the Special Rapporteur sent a joint urgent appeal with the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, regarding Abduali Kurbanov, age 44. He is reported to be currently at risk of imminent execution following a death sentence imposed in March 2002, reportedly on the basis of a confession extracted under torture and without being offered an effective right of appeal. The Special Rapporteurs note that on 12 November 2003 the UN Human Rights Committee (see CCPR/C/79/D/1096/2002) found violations of Abduali Kurbanov’s rights under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Human Rights Committee further considered that he was entitled to an effective remedy entailing compensation and to a new trial before an ordinary court.
1725. On 27 April 2004, the Special Rapporteur sent a joint urgent appeal with the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, concerning Rachabmurod Chumayev, age 25, Umed Idiyev, age 23, Akbar Radzhabov, Mukharam Fatkhulloyev, Ibrogim Khusseynov, Todzhiddin Butayev, age 26, Akhmaddzhon Saidov and Savriddin Pirov. According to the allegations received, they are reportedly at risk of imminent execution, following death sentences imposed on the basis of confessions extracted under torture. The eight men were sentenced to death in February 2003 on charges of terrorism, banditry, illegal possession of firearms, hostage-taking and murder. Rachabmurod Chumayev was detained by law enforcement officers on 22 June 2001 and kept in a police station in the central district of Dushanbe, where he was beaten with truncheons, and then electric shocks were applied to vulnerable parts of his body in order to force him to sign a confession. He was denied access to a lawyer for his first month in custody, and later given a state-appointed lawyer who did not present a strong defence case. Todzhiddin Butayev, Umed Idiyev, Ibrogim Khusseynov, Akbar Radzhabov, and Akhmaddzhon Saidov were also tortured and ill- treated in pre-trial detention. On 17 November 2003, the Supreme Court turned down appeals against the death sentences of Rachabmurod Chumayev, Ibrogim Khusseynov, Todzhiddin Butayev and Akbar Radzhabov. When relatives of Rachabmurod Chumayev and Ibrogim Khusseynov went to the investigation- isolation prison No. 1 in Dushanbe on 25 April 2004, to leave parcels for them, they were informed by the guards that Rachabmurod Chumayev, Umed Idiyev, Akbar Radzhabov and Mukharam Fatkhulloyev had been taken to the execution site the previous day. It is unknown whether these four detainees have already been executed and it is further alleged that the other four could be executed at any time. Complaints have been lodged with the United Nations Human Rights Committee under the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights alleging violations of the above Covenant. The Committee had reportedly issued interim measures urging the authorities of Tajikistan to stay the executions of Rachabmurod Chumayev, Umed Idiyev, Todzhiddin Butayev, Ibrogim Khusseynov and Savriddin Pirov while it considered their cases.
1726. On 14 May 2004, the Special Rapporteur sent a joint ur gent appeal with Special
Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, regarding Ibrogim
Khusseynov and Todzhiddin Butayev (cited in a previously transmitted communication,
para. 1724). It has been reported that Rachabmurod Chumayev, Umed Idiyev, Akbar
Radzhabov, and Mukharam Fatkhulloyev, whose cases were also included in the previous
communication have since been executed. Akhmaddzhon Saidov and Savriddin Pirov, also
included in that appeal, have reportedly had their death sentences commuted to imprisonment.
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This report has been published by Equipo Nizkor and Derechos Human Rights on July 27, 2005.