Uznews, Tashkent, 04 Nov 2008 – The 23 October visit by the chairman of Uzbekistan’s National Security Service (SNB), Rustam Inoyatov, might have ended with his arrest, if it had not been an official visit, the German Federal Prosecutor’s Office told the Tageszeitung newspaper.
During the visit, he might have faced charges of involvement in mass killings in Andijan on 13 May 2005.
The newspaper said on 31 October that his official invitation to visit Germany was the protection of the chief of the Uzbek intelligence service who is suspected of committing crime against humanity.
It turned out that in 2005 Human Rights Watch filed a suit against 12 government officials of Uzbekistan who are blamed for the Andijan massacre and Inoyatov is among them.
Human Rights Watch believes the Uzbek government committed crime against humanity in Andijan, while Germany passed law in 2002 making it possible to prosecute people for crimes against humanity committed by foreigners in foreign countries.
As soon as Inoyatov arrived in Germany, Berlin lawyer Wolfgang Kaleck, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of Human Rights Watch, asked the German Federal Prosecutor’s Office to take action against Inoyatov.
However, prosecutors said that since Inoyatov was invited officially to Germany he was under diplomatic protection.
Kaleck believes prosecutors can start collecting evidence to launch a criminal case against him and wait for his next visit to Germany to detain him.
Despite his official invitation, no official agency of Germany explained the reasons for Inoyatov’s visit.
Neither the Foreign Ministry nor the chancellor’s office answered journalists’ questions, saying that they do not know who invited him to Germany.
Tageszeitung said that German officials were embarrassed about such partner and recalled that another person from the list, former Interior Minister Zakir Almatov, visited Germany in autumn 2005 after he was granted a visa for humanitarian reasons because he was ill.
Since Almatov was visiting Germany unofficially, he could have been arrested but he managed to leave the country before the Federal Prosecutor’s Office took action.
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