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C O N F I D E N T I A L TASHKENT 000462 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR SCA/CEN AND DRL 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/08/2016 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV UZ
SUBJECT: ANOTHER UZBEK OPPOSITION LEADER SENTENCED TO A 
DECADE IN PRISON 
 
REF: TASHKENT 427 
 
Classified By: AMB. JON R. PURNELL, FOR REASONS 1.4 (B, D) 
 
¶1. (C) Summary: Sunshine Coalition co-founder Sanjar Umarov 
was convicted on March 6 and sentenced to 14 and a half years 
in prison, with the sentence reduced to ten years and ten 
months by an amnesty decree.  He plans to appeal.  Fellow 
coalition co-founder Nodira Khidoyatova, convicted earlier on 
similar charges, plans to skip the normal appeal process and 
complain directly to the Supreme Court.  While we give the 
defense high marks for effort, we expect that appeals will 
not reverse the verdicts or lighten the sentences further. 
End summary. 
 
¶2. (C) On March 6, the Tashkent City Criminal Court sentenced 
Sunshine Coalition co-founder Sanjar Umarov to a prison term 
of 14 years and 6 months on multiple charges of high economic 
crimes.  Based on a December 2005 amnesty decree, the judge 
reduced the sentence by one-quarter, to ten years and ten 
months.  The state prosecutor had requested an 18-year 
sentence.  In addition, the judge ordered Umarov to pay fines 
totaling $8.3 million.  The verdict came five days after the 
conviction of Umarov's fellow coalition co-founder Nodira 
Khidoyatova on similar charges (reftel). 
 
¶3. (C) As in the Khidoyatova case, Umarov's final day in 
court attracted a throng of approximately 60 observers, 
including Poloff, human rights activists, journalists, and 
diplomats from the British and German embassies and the OSCE 
Center.  The judge read the verdict in an uninterrupted 
90-minute session.  After the hearing, Umarov's lawyer, 
Vitaly Krasilovsky, told journalists and other observers, 
"Sanjar Umarov's guilt was not proven on any of the charges," 
and vowed to appeal the verdict.  Then, in a private aside to 
Poloff, he said, "A different judge will look at the case. 
But of course, the result will be the same." 
 
KHIDOYATOVA TO APPEAL DIRECTLY TO SUPREME COURT 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶4. (C) In a separate meeting with Poloff, Free Farmers Party 
head Nigora Khidoyatova said that her sister, Sunshine 
Coalition co-founder Nodira Khidoyatova, will soon be 
transferred to Uzbekistan's only women's prison, in the 
outskirts of Tashkent, where she will be allowed one visit 
from a family member every four months.  According to Nigora, 
the defense will forego the traditional appeal process, 
believing it to be a useless review by the same court that 
convicted her.  Instead, her attorney will file an appeal 
directly to the Supreme Court to protest procedural 
violations in the trial.  The process would encompass three 
appeal stages and would take around four months to complete. 
Still, Khidoyatova was pessimistic about the possible 
outcome.  She said that, as a final resort, the family would 
appeal to the "International Court," but she could not 
specify what institution she had in mind, or what 
jurisdiction it had over this case. 
 
¶5. (C) Comment: We give credit to Khidoyatova and Umarov's 
lawyers for exhausting all available remedies that the legal 
system offers.  However, there is no meaningful separation of 
powers between the judiciary and executive authority.  Both 
of these cases were clearly politically motivated, and not 
surprisingly, the courts delivered the verdict expected of 
them by the regime.  We agree with Umarov,s attorney that 
the verdicts and sentences will stand, regardless of appeals 
at any level.  Post is aware of very few cases, and none 
involving members of the political opposition, in which 
verdicts have been reversed, or sentences substantially 
lightened, as a result of an appeal. 
PURNELL