Statement by International Partnership for Human Rights, Amnesty International, Association for Human Rights in Central Asia, Civic Solidarity Platform, Human Rights Watch.
Our organizations are deeply concerned that torture and other ill-treatment and the admission in criminal trials of evidence extracted under torture remain persistent, endemic problems in Uzbekistan. Torture and other ill-treatment have become defining features of the Uzbekistani criminal justice system. They are central to how the Uzbekistani authorities deal with dissent, combat actual or perceived security threats and repress political opponents.
Security forces and prison guards routinely carry out torture and other ill-treatment, including during arrest and transfer to detention facilities, in police custody, pre-trial detention and in prisons.
Police and secret police use torture and other ill-treatment to extract confessions and other incriminating information, and to intimidate and punish detainees and their families. Those at particular risk include individuals the authorities perceive as a threat to national security, such as those who practice their faith outside state approved mosques and those who are members or suspected members of banned Islamist groups.
Full version of the statement is attached: https://civicsolidarity.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/joint_statement_uzbekistan_for_osce_2015_0.doc
