Comment by Umida Niyazova
The fate of Gulnara Karimova seems to hold little interest for many Uzbeks. Long ago, commenting on her arrest in 2014, the Uzbek General Prosecutor’s Office tersely reported that the president’s daughter and businesswoman had caused $1.3 billion in damage to the country, yet no one knows any details about the criminal cases inside the country.
Meanwhile, Gulnara Karimova’s Swiss lawyer, who has been trying to defend her rights for many years – and was banned from entering Uzbekistan in 2019 for doing so – appealed to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. This is one of the few bodies used by human rights organizations to draw attention to the illegal arrests of human rights defenders, journalists and activists in authoritarian countries. Recently, the UN Working Group concluded that Gulnara Karimova had been denied all possible rights to a fair trial and that her detention was arbitrary.
Although no one but her children appears to care about the fate of Karimova, who has been in prison for more than ten years, the UN Working Group’s decision demonstrates the deplorable state of the judicial system in Uzbekistan. This is a high-risk area, a no-holds-barred, merciless battle, reflecting the gangster-like practices of the Uzbek law enforcement system. This is something that businesspeople who are currently in the state’s good graces should consider, because that can change very quickly. There are many examples of this.
What is remarkable about Karimova’s story is that she committed enough provable crimes both inside Uzbekistan and abroad that could have been investigated and tried by legal means. An open and fair trial of all corruption cases in which Karimova played a key role could have somewhat healed society, cleansed it of her accomplices, compensated the victims, and increased the confidence of large foreign investors in Uzbekistan’s judicial system.
But the task of the Uzbek “justice” system was not to expose Karimova’s corruption crimes and punish those responsible. The task was to isolate her from everyone and under no circumstances allow her to speak. A fair and transparent trial presupposes that a person accused of any crime has the right to a defense, the right to speak and present their arguments in an open court. Without proper procedures, it is not a trial, but a mafia showdown. But Karimova was not to speak under any circumstances, especially not publicly. Behind the dry phrases of the UN working group’s decision lies an abyss of problems in Uzbekistan’s ugly and completely intertwined law enforcement and judicial system.
Karimova became a victim of the system built by her father and the lawless order that was supposed to serve her and her family but turned against her – public sympathy for her is likely to be limited. But the problem is that a system has developed in Uzbekistan where corrupt officials can be imprisoned with little impact on the corruption itself. The fact that Karimova can sit in prison indefinitely, without the prospect of a public and fair trial, only perpetuates the vicious practice of absent justice.
Background of the Gulnara Karimova case:
Karimova was arrested on February 14, 2014. She was not presented with any documents justifying her arrest. She spent 18 months under house arrest without contact with the outside world, together with her 15-year-old daughter, who was unable to attend school during that time. Karimova had no opportunity to appeal her detention to any judicial authority. She was not given access to her case file, she had no opportunity to question witnesses, and she had no access to a lawyer.
On August 21, 2015, a trial was held in her kitchen. The two lawyers assigned to her were present, but she had not been able to communicate with them beforehand. This kitchen court sentenced her to five years of house arrest with a complete ban on leaving her home.
In November 2016, a Swiss lawyer was able to meet with Karimova. The day before the meeting with her lawyer, “the prosecutor roughly grabbed Ms. Karimova by the arm and told her that she knew what she would have to say the next day. As a result of this incident, Karimova was left with a large bruise on her arm measuring 8 cm in diameter. The Uzbek authorities have banned Karimova from speaking to her Swiss lawyer.“
On December 18, 2017, Karimova was taken to the Tashkent Regional Court, where “she was found guilty of another series of crimes.” It is not known whether a record was kept during the second trial. According to the Working Group, “Ms. Karimova was reportedly represented by a lawyer whom she had never met before. It is noted that Ms. Karimova did not participate in any pre-trial hearings. Ms. Karimova was unable to file an appeal or seek judicial review because such a possibility either did not exist or was denied to her. Furthermore, as stated in the verdict, the trial was held behind closed doors, although no specific charges or circumstances justifying this were given. She was sentenced to ten years in prison and transferred to a penal colony in the Tashkent region in January 2018.“
“During the last visit of Ms. Karimova’s lawyer from a third country to Tashkent on October 11 and 12, 2018, the Uzbek authorities obstructed his meetings. The authorities systematically delayed the start of the meetings, interrupted them several times, and forcibly ended them before the scheduled time. Due to these numerous obstacles, the total time of the meetings over the two days did not exceed three hours and 15 minutes. Karimova and her lawyer from a third country were unable to speak freely during these meetings due to fears that they were being recorded or eavesdropped on.”
In September 2019, Karimova was charged with a third set of charges. She was allowed to have two lawyers of her choice, but they were unable to defend her properly as they were and continue to be subjected to extreme pressure from the Uzbek authorities. On March 18, 2020, Karimova was found guilty of embezzlement of state funds and a number of other crimes and sentenced to 13 years and four months in prison.
In its opinion, the Working Group states that, “Since June 12, 2019, Ms. Karimova has not been allowed to meet with her lawyer from a third country. In December 2019, the Uzbek authorities issued a decision banning a lawyer from a third country from entering Uzbekistan until December 31, 2024, after he published several statements on social media criticizing, among other things, the systematic violation of Ms. Karimova’s rights by the Uzbek authorities. The Uzbek authorities classified these statements as ‘destructive actions‘ and ‘spreading false information‘ and informed the General Prosecutor’s Office of the third country that they would no longer allow Ms. Karimova’s lawyer to visit her.“
Ms. Karimova is currently being held in the Zangiota correctional colony. She remains in complete isolation and is not allowed to send or receive mail or make or receive phone calls, including from members of her family.
In light of the above, the Working Group concluded that the deprivation of liberty of Gulnara Karimova, in violation of articles 3, 8, 9, and 11 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and articles 2, 9, and 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, is arbitrary.
The Working Group urges the Uzbek government to ensure a full and independent investigation into the circumstances of Karimova’s arbitrary deprivation of liberty and to take appropriate measures with respect to those responsible for the violation of her rights.
