From: Justin Burke (JBurke@sorosny.org)
Date: Wed Nov 22 2000 - 08:56:00 EST
Convicted Uzbek opposition leader says verdict illegal
Text of report by Iranian radio from Mashhad on 20th November
On the day when the [Uzbek] Supreme Court announced its verdict [in
opposition leaders' trial,17th November], we spoke by telephone with the
chairman of the Erk Democratic Party, Muhammad Solih, for whom the
prosecutor had asked the death penalty, but the court sentenced him for 15
and half years in prison - most observers assessed this as a surprise. Here
is his opinion:
[Muhammad Solih] I expressed my opinion before the beginning of the trial.
But I kept silent during the trial because I was one of those groundlessly
accused. The verdict was announced today and I can express some views.
First, the prosecutor asked for the death penalty for me as well as for
Tohir Yoldosh and Juma Namangoniy [leaders of the banned Islamic Movement
of Uzbekistan] and others. According to the sentence passed today, for some
reasons that punishment was not given to me, the sentence envisages 15 or
15 and half years in a strict-regime prison.
This, first of all, somewhat surprised me, of course, because 15 years,
given the present circumstances in Uzbekistan, for a person like me, is
really very little, because this regime, the totalitarian regime in
Uzbekistan considers me a major enemy.
Fifteen years are given to ordinary people, for example, to my brother, he
did nothing, he is innocent. Not only one, but all the three my brothers
were given 10-15 years, they have nothing to do with politics. And Mamadali
Mahmud, only because he is my friend and because he went to Ukraine to see
me, was sentenced to about 15 years. This reminds me an anecdote from
Stalin's period. This anecdote is not a joke, because a joke is about some
funny things, whereas an anecdote is something containing the whole tragedy
and drama of an event. To be short, two prisoners in jail are talking. How
many years are you sentenced to, asks one. Twenty years, was the answer.
What for? For nothing, I have no guilt, answers the second. This is
impossible. Those not guilty are given here 15 years, so you must be guilty
of something, once you've got 20 years.
Similarly, I also have no guilt, and I have got 15 years. And this is
probably the logic and justice of a totalitarian state.
However, to comment on this without any anecdotes, I think, they were
preparing to give me the death penalty, but having thought they decided
that the death penalty was not convincing. First of all, it is an
exaggeration, second, they probably feared that the death penalty would
further increase the prestige of Muhammad Solih, third, this would have
made more difficult for Uzbekistan to demand Muhammad Solih's extradition.
They limited themselves to giving me 15 years in prison proceeding from
these three factors. In fact, a punishment I would have accepted from such
a totalitarian regime should have been tougher.
Today I am being asked by radio stations whether I am going to appeal
against the court ruling and I tell them that I will not. Because I do not
recognize the existence of either the court or justice in that state, or
any structures of that state. If I did recognize it I could have appealed
or hired a defence lawyer. Unfortunately, the ruling government in
Uzbekistan today is doing every injustice to our people.
My tragedy, the tragedy of my family and my brothers is only one episode of
that great tragedy. We do not expect any justice from this government, we
do not recognize its court and if we appealed to it to reconsider [the
case] or against any other procedure it would mean our recognition of its
legality. We consider that government and its court an illegal state and an
illegal court.
Source: Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mashhad, in Uzbek 1500 gmt 20
Nov 00
BBC Mon CAU 211100/** bb/mv
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