19.8.15

Kazakhstan: more restrictive regime of custody is extended by further six months for a prisoner Rafis Galiulin

Restrictive regime of custody of Rafis Gaiulin in the Dzhezkazgan prison colony of Kazakhstan is extended the second time by six months.

Rafis Gaiulin
Rafis Rafitovich GALIULIN was born on 29 December 1970 in the city of Tselinograd (currently Astana) of Kazakhstan. He is married, has three children. He is a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir international political party, which is prohibited in Kazakhstan and does not hide his beliefs. He has been in prison since October 2009.

On 3 August 2010, Galiulin was sentenced to 7 years of imprisonment under the following Articles of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan:
         — 164, Part 2 (Incitement of Social, National, Tribal, Racial, or Religious Enmity);
         — 233-1, Part 1 (Promotion of terrorism or public appeals to commit a terrorism offence, and equal distribution of materials of mentioned contents);
         — 337-1, Part 1 (Organisation of the activity of a public or a religious association or another organisation, in respect of which there is a court decision which took legal effect about the prohibition of their activity or the liquidation on account of the implementation of extremism by them);
         — 337-1, Part 2 (Participation in the activity of a public or a religious association or another organisation, in respect of which there is a court decision which took legal effect about the prohibition of their activity or the liquidation on account of the implementation of extremism by them).

Rafis Galiulin appealed the sentence to the courts of all instances including the Supreme Court of Kazakhstan.

Since 06.11.2014, he is serving his term in the Dzhezkazgan coolly (prison No.159/25 of the Department for Management of the Correctional System (ДУИС)) where he was transferred from Prison No. LA-155/1 of the Almaty Regional office of the Committee on Management of the Criminal Correctional System.

Restrictive regime of custody was applied to Rafis Galaulin in November 2014 for six months following spread of his speech in the internet. Many things indicate that this video ended up in the internet not without involvement of the officers of the prison, who were interested in having grounds to apply the restrictive regime of custody.

Immediately upon Galiulin’s arrival at the prison colony No. 159/25 of the Department for Management of the Correctional System, its employees suggested to him to refuse to comply with the terms of his custody. He realised that this was a provocation and did not accept their “advice”. In response, 10 masked men beat up Galiulin with batons and demanded that he recorded a video message. Fearing for his already failing health, he appeared in the video. Galiulin knew in advance that such “violations” of the law attract extension of the sentence term or more restrictive regime of custody.

In accordance with Articles 135-139 of the Criminal Executive Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the strict regime of Galiulin’s custody expired in May 2015. It was immediately extended for further six months. The official reason was the discovery of razor blades, an article the prisoners are prohibited to possess, among Rafis Galiulin’s things. According to our source, the blade was planted among Galiulin’s things. It is worth noting that the incident occurred just before the end of the first terms of the punitive measure. In this manner, the authorities are carrying out their revenge on Galiulin for his refusal to announce his disaffiliation with Hizb ut-Tahrir publicly.

Rafis Galiulin is subjected to pressure throughout his prison sentence. The authorities applied a more restrictive regime of custody with the aim of restricting his access to visits, communication via telephone or in written form.

Numerous complaints of Rafis Galiulin’s family lead to an internal investigation, which revealed abuses by the officers of the administration. Following this, the regime of Galiulin’s custody was temporarily relaxed, the pressure eased.  

According to witnesses, Rafis Galiulin was prohibited to perform religious rites during the holy month of Ramadan and he ate very little. Galiulin is experiencing stomachaches with increasing frequency. His eyesight is worsening, he is losing weight and his teeth are damaged.

Separation from his wife and children and the total pressure on him, especially at the time when his sentence is coming to an end, resulted in Rafis Galiulin’s depression. His family is extremely alarmed about his physical and psychological condition. It is clear that Galiulin wrote his recent letters under the supervision of the administration.

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Association for Human Rights in Central Asia (AHRCA) expresses its concern about Rafis Galiulin’s condition. In this regard, we are sending reports to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief recounting physical and psychological exhaustion caused to the prisoner R. Galiulin persecuted for his religious beliefs.

AHRCA calls on the government of Kazakhstan to respect the Constitutional rights of its citizens.



Our previous publication on this topic:
— press release “Kazakhstan:a prisoner is tortured and forced to leave Khizb ut-Takhrir” dated 12 January 2015.




A citizen of Uzbekistan Davron Komoliddinov went missing in Russia

Location of Davron Komoliddinov, a citizen of Uzbekistan, remains unknown for the last five months.

On 3 April 2015, Davron was detained in the city of Krasnoyarsk of Russia following a request of Uzbekistan to extradite him. His family is not able to find him either in Russia or in Uzbekistan.

Davron KOMOLIDDINOV
Davron Ortikovich KOMOLIDDINOV was born on 14 April 1991 in the Uchkuprik District of the Fergana Region.

Uzbek law enforcement agencies became interested in him as early as 2012. As it transpired later, two citizens of Uzbekistan, with whom he communicated in Russia, testified against Komoliddinov. Following their returned from Russia to Uzbekistan, they were detained on 3 October 2012.

In the course of 2013, Uzbek criminal investigation officers regularly visited Davron Komoliddinov’s home and coerced his family to give information about his location.

Russian law enforcement agencies informed Davron Komoliddinov’s family that he is not in the territory of the Russian Federation. They are not able to obtain any information about him in Uzbekistan either.

Association for Human Rights in Central Asia (AHRCA) sent a report to the UN Working Group on Enforce or Involuntary Disappearances.




16.8.15

Moldova: a member of Tajik opposition Sobir Valiev is under a threat of extradition

We call on Moldova to observe the principle that prohibits forced extradition of people to countries where they may face torture. In Tajikistan opponents of the regime are systematically tortured, and Sobir Valiev is also under this threat.
Sobir VALIEV
Sobir Assodulloevich VALIEV was born on 3 April 1988 in the city of Dushanbe of Tajikistan. He has a degree in economics. He is a citizen of the Kyrgyz Republic since 2008. In 2007, he renounced his Tajik citizenship. This is confirmed by an official letter from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Tajikistan. He is married and has three children.

He is a member of the Political Council of the Group of 24. Since April 2015 he is a Deputy Chairman of the Group of 24. In June 2015 he became a Deputy Head of the Congress of Constructive Forces, created by the union of six opposition political organisations on the basis of a democratic platform.

On 11 August 2015 a member of the Tajik opposition Sabir Valiyev was detained in the Kishinev Airport at the request of Tajikistan for his extradition. He was recently included in the wanted list under the following Articles of the Criminal Code of Tajikistan:
307-1 (Public calls for extremist activities);
307-2 (Organisation of an extremist community).

Sobir Valiyev will stay in the detention centre of the Police Commissariat of the Kishinev city for 40 days. Meanwhile, the Moldovan Prosecutor General's Office will consider the extradition request, made on the basis of the Minsk Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance. Sobir Valiyev’s lawyer has been working on the appeal against the request from Tajikistan for his extradition. Moldova should reject the request to extradite Mr Valiev, because the national legislation of Moldova does not provide for punishment of extremism, - the lawyer Ion Mazur told the Association for Human Rights in Central Asia.

From March to May 2015, Sabir Valiyev lived in Turkey, and then went to Kishinev for three months, where he officially rented a temporary accommodation. When he was flying back from Kishinev to Istanbul, at the passport control he learned that he was wanted.

Our organisation is in possession of a summons for questioning on 14 March 2015, sent by the Tajik Ministry of Internal Affairs to his home address in Tajikistan, where Sabir Valiyev previously lived permanently. Soon, “A Traitor” graffiti in the Tajik language appeared on the gate and the fence of his house. For the Tajik Special Services the summons is undoubtedly a formal pretext for opening an investigative case against the famous and courageous critic of the regime of Emomali Rakhmon. The intelligence agencies know that he lives in Kyrgyzstan, as a citizen of that country.

According to the information available to AHRCA, Sabir Valiyev left Tajikistan in 2007, he has his nationality of Kyrgyzstan confirmed and complies with the passport regime of this country and all the countries where he lives temporarily.

Tajik law enforcement agencies took interest in Sobir Valiev while he lived in Kyrgyzstan. In the opposition media, he openly criticised Tajik officials for their involvement in corruption and violations of fundamental rights and freedoms. His activity intensified after the murder of the leader of the Group 24, Umarali Kuvatov, in Istanbul. Mr Valiev openly distributed on the Internet photos, posters and videos of critical nature, he participated in the peaceful protest of the Tajik opposition. Among the Tajik community his speeches are popular, including the latest one, where he condemned the closed trial in Istanbul for the murder of Umarali Kuvatov.

Tajik law enforcement agencies claim that Mr Valiev calls for unsanctioned rallies and abets the commission of extremist crimes. Tajik authorities stress that Mr Valiyev is the Deputy Head of the opposition organisation Group 24, which the Supreme Court of Tajikistan declared "extremist" in October 2015.

Association for Human Rights in Central Asia (AHRCA) believes that these accusations are clearly a response to criticism by a member of opposition Sobir Valiev, whose opinion is trusted by many Tajik citizens.

AHRCA expresses its concern at the threat of compulsory return of Sobir Valiyev to his country of birth Tajikistan for his open expression of critical opinions. We call on:

              — Government of the Kyrgyz Republic to provide effective protection to a citizen of this country Sobir Valiev against persecution motivated by false and politicised information provided by Tajikistan;

              — Government of Moldova to fulfil faithfully the conditions of Article 3 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which states “No State Party shall expel, return ("refouler") or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture”;

              — UNHCR representative office in Moldova to visit Sobir Valiyev urgently and consider his application in accordance with the UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees: According to Valiyev, it is becoming dangerous for him to remain in the CIS

At the same time, the Association for Human Rights in Central Asia has informed the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, the OSCE, the diplomatic missions of the EU countries and the United States, international human rights organisations.