Uznews, Nukus, 11 Sep 2008 – An investigator poured boiling water on the head of human rights activist Agzam Turgunov during questioning in Nukus in Karakalpakstan.
Agzam Tursunov, 56, and resident of Mangit Hamza Salayev are being tried in Karakalpakstan on extortion charges under Article 165, Part 3 of the Uzbek Criminal Code and are facing prison terms ranging from 10 to 15 years.
Turgunov’s lawyer Rustam Tulyaganov said he had been trying for several weeks to establish how and why his client was poured boiling water during questioning in the Nukus town police department. However, he has failed to do so, let alone bring those guilty to justice.
Agzam Turgunov has been held in the police department’s detention centre since he was detained on 11 July. He told his lawyer that he was questioned by investigator Salomat Ibragimov and when he bended over papers writing his explanations and felt boiling water poured on his head and neck.
The pain was so great that he even fainted. Turgunov was not able to say exactly what happened but he has the grounds to think that Ibragimov poured boiling water on him because no-one else was present in the office. However, it is hard to prove this because the investigation is doing nothing to establish how Turgunov received these burns.
“I tried to force them to take investigative measures to establish the culprit but my attempts were fruitless,” Tulyaganov said.
Using boiling water and torture is not unusual in Uzbekistan. Many innocent victims of the Islam Karimov regime say that they have faced torture using boiling water.
The most scandalous cases were the killings of Muzaffar Avazov and Husnutdin Olimov of in the Jaslyk prison, also in Karakalpakstan, in August 2002. They were sentenced for alleged membership of the Hizb-ut Tahrir Islamic party. An independent expert examination established that both men had been boiled to death and their mutilated bodies were sent to their families in Tashkent, while those guilty of their deaths received only rebukes.
Meanwhile, the hearing of the case against Turgunov and Salayev was postponed by the Amudarya District court on 9 September until 16 September. It was previously postponed first from 26 August until 4 September and then 9 September.
“I think that investigators are failing to find enough witnesses, which is why the trial is being postponed,” Tulyaganov said. The reason for this is that potential witnesses should claim in court which has never happened.
Turgunov and Salayev were charged with extorting money from Oybek Hujoboyev who refused to pay alimonies to his wife Muborak Salayeva for their children. The woman is Salayev’s sister.
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