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FM AMEMBASSY TASHKENT
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INFO RUEHZG/NATO EU COLLECTIVE
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RUEHTA/AMEMBASSY ASTANA 0470
RUEHEK/AMEMBASSY BISHKEK 4873
RUEHLM/AMEMBASSY COLOMBO 0725
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RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 4453
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL 2744
RUEHKT/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU 0764
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 1403
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO 1984
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 1389
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 2711
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC 0159
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC 0309

C O N F I D E N T I A L TASHKENT 000927 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR SCA, DRL, SCA/PPD, AND INR 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/12/2018 
TAGS: PHUM KDEM KPAO ICRC PGOV PINR PREL UZ
SUBJECT: EMBASSY TASHKENT HOSTS ROUNDTABLE ON IMPRISONED 
OPPOSITIONIST 
 
REF: A. TASHKENT 854 
     ¶B. TASHKENT 819 
     ¶C. TASHKENT 893 
     ¶D. TASHKENT 403 
     ¶E. TASHKENT 702 
 
Classified By: POLOFF R. FITZMAURICE FOR REASONS 1.4 (B, D) 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: On August 6, poloff hosted an informal 
roundtable at the Embassy with Arslan Umarov, the son of 
imprisoned Sunshine Coalition leader Sanjar Umarov.  The 
roundtable was attended by the Charge, the Swiss Ambassador, 
the French and Italian DCMs, and officers from the German and 
British Embassies.  It served as a follow-up to a 
DRL-sponsored "Prisoners of Conscience" panel discussion held 
at the United Nations on July 24 at which  Umarov's other son 
Gulam spoke.  The roundtable also enabled Arslan to share 
with European Embassies information regarding his father's 
deteriorating health in prison (ref A) and allowed Western 
diplomats to formulate a common message on Umarov to deliver 
to the Uzbek government.  End summary. 
 
FOLLOW-UP TO DRL PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE EVENT 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶2.  (U) Poloff began the event by welcoming Arslan Umarov and 
noting that the Embassy continues to closely monitor his 
father's health condition in prison and has advocated with 
the government for his release on medical grounds.  Poloff 
also informed the attendees of a DRL-sponsored panel 
discussion hosted by the U.S. Mission to the United Nations 
in New York entitled "Courageous Voices: Speaking Out for 
Prisoners of Conscience," which featured Arslan's brother 
Gulam as one of the speakers.  Poloff also made available 
copies of a U.S. State Department press release on Gulam's 
speech at the event.  In addition, poloff explained that the 
Embassy continues to closely monitor the cases of several 
other individuals who have been recently detained or 
imprisoned on politically-motivated charges, including former 
Radio Free Europe journalist Salidjahon Abdurakhmanov, human 
rights activist Akzam Turgunov, and two Margilan-based 
Jehovah's Witness congregants (refs B and C). 
 
UMAROV DISCUSSES CONDITION OF FATHER'S IMPRISONMENT 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
¶3.  (C) After the introduction, Arslan Umarov, who normally 
resides in the United States with the rest of his immediate 
family, described his father's deteriorating health.  Arslan 
said that he last visited his father at the Qizil-Tepe prison 
in Navoi province on July 19.  His father's health appeared 
to be worse than during previous visits.  Arslan said that 
his father had lost so much weight that he resembled "a 
concentration camp victim."  When he hugged his father, he 
said that he could feel the ribs in his back, as there was 
little muscle or fat mass remaining, "just skin and bones." 
He also reported that his father had difficulty walking, 
speaking, eating, and sleeping and appeared to be in a 
confused mental state.  Arslan speculated that his father 
might have been given psychotropic drugs.  He also noted that 
his father had mysterious marks on the back of his legs. 
 
¶4.  (C) Arslan explained the difficult conditions his father 
has endured while imprisoned.  He said that his father was 
first detained in pre-trial detention in October 2005.  In 
March 2006, he was convicted on politically-motivated charges 
of tax evasion and illegal commodities trading (his sentence 
was eventually reduced to seven years and eight months on 
humanitarian grounds).  In May 2006, Sanjar Umarov was 
transferred to the Qizil-Tepe prison.  According to Arslan, 
the approximately 3,000 inmates at Qizil-Tepe are required to 
 
work at a brick-making factory adjacent to the prison.  He 
said that his father was one of only three inmates at the 
prison who was required to work inside the factory's brick 
furnace, which is considered to be the most difficult and 
dangerous job.  After three days of working in the furnace, 
his father refused to work further and was thrown in solitary 
confinement for three weeks.  Following his release, Sanjar 
Umarov briefly went back to the furnace, but after eventually 
refusing to work again, he was reportedly placed in solitary 
confinement for 14 months.   Arslan also shared with the 
attendees enlarged Google Earth aerial photographs of 
Qizil-Tepe, which showed the location of the prison, nearby 
factory, and isolation cells. 
 
¶5.  (C) Arslan said that he was able to visit his father 
twice in the summer of 2006.  He said that his father's 
health at the time was stable but had already begun to 
deteriorate.  After his father's 14-month stint in solitary 
confinement, Arslan was able to visit his father again in 
July 2007.  At the time, Arslan said that his father's mental 
condition had worsened and he was speaking incoherently. 
From that point onwards, Arslan and other family members were 
able to visit Sanjar approximately once every three months. 
Arslan reported that his father's condition began to take 
another serious turn for the worse in March (ref D).   Arslan 
said that he will have one last chance to see his father 
before he departs Uzbekistan again and offered to provide an 
update on his father's health to the attendees via poloff. 
 
¶6.  (C) While the news about Umarov's deteriorating health 
was reported on independent websites, it still appeared to be 
new information for some of the European diplomats.  For 
example, German Political Officer Uwe Berndt said that he had 
not heard of Umarov's deteriorating condition and planned to 
cable Berlin that night with the news. 
 
UMAROV DESCRIBES ADVOCACY EFFORTS BY HIS FAMILY 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶7.  (C) Arslan reported that his family has repeatedly 
attempted to advocate for Sanjar Umarov's behalf with the 
government.  He reported that his family has sent numerous 
letters to all relevant government bodies - including the 
Presidential Apparatus, the Supreme Court, the National 
Security Service, the General Prosecutor's Office, the 
Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) and its Prisons 
Directorate (GUIN), the Human Rights Ombudsman's Office, and 
the National Human Rights Center - asking that his father be 
amnestied or released on humanitarian grounds.  Arslan said 
his family rarely received replies, and the replies they did 
receive invariably stated that Umarov had been duly convicted 
of his alleged crimes and was ineligible for amnesty as he 
had violated internal prison regulations (Note: Political 
prisoners are routinely accused of violating internal prison 
regulations in order to disqualify them for the annual 
amnesty.  End note). 
 
¶8.  (C) Arslan reported that according to Uzbek law, Sanjar 
Umarov could be released from prison if he paid the 8.6 
million dollar fine that was levied against him at trial. 
Umarov reported that his family was unable to pay such a 
large fine, as the government had already confiscated most of 
their former property and business interests.  Arslan 
provided the attendees with a list of property that had been 
confiscated by the government from the Umarov family.  Arslan 
said that almost all of the property belonged to Sanjar's 
brothers and not Sanjar himself.  He estimated that the 
property's combined worth was about 10 million dollars.  He 
noted that almost none of the confiscated property was 
counted towards Sanjar's fine. 
 
¶9.  (C) Arslan said that he had met with representatives of 
the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which 
restarted prison visits in Uzbekistan in February.  The ICRC 
representatives reportedly told Arslan that they have not yet 
visited the Qizil-Tepe prison, where his father is being 
held, and would not say if they planned to visit the prison 
in the future. 
 
UMAROV PROVIDES BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON FATHER'S CASE 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
¶10.  (C) Umarov also recalled the history of his father's 
involvement in the opposition Sunshine Coalition, a 
pro-democracy secular opposition movement.  He described his 
father as an idealist who sought to unite independent  groups 
to engage in dialogue with the Uzbek government and encourage 
gradual democratic and economic reforms.  He stressed that 
his father publicly affirmed his allegiance to the Uzbek 
Constitution and disavowed any attempts to force President 
Karimov from power.  Arslan believes that his father was 
making progress until the government unleashed a ruthless 
crackdown of all perceived opposition groups following the 
May 2005 Andijan events.  While Sanjar Umarov was a 
successful businessman, Arslan noted that by the time he 
formed the Sunshine Coalition, Sanjar had few remaining 
business interests in Uzbekistan.  According to Arslan, 
Sanjar's two brothers controlled the delivery of oil to the 
Ferghana Valley through Tajikistan and were far wealthier 
than Sanjar himself. 
 
A (FORMERLY) WELL-CONNECTED FAMILY 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶11.  (C) Before his father's imprisonment, Arslan noted that 
his family had well-developed connections among Uzbekistan's 
elite.  He said that his great-grandfather served as the 
First Secretary of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan in the 
1950s.  He also noted that National Security Service (NSS) 
Chairman Rustam Inoyatov was a distant relative (Sanjar 
Umarov's sister-in-law is married to Inoyatov's brother). 
Soon after the American invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, 
Arslan said that Inoyatov provided  his father with a 
monopoly on renewed trade with Afghanistan across the 
Friendship Bridge at Termez.  As soon as his father was 
arrested, though, Arslan explained that his family's contacts 
became afraid to be associated with them and have not been 
able to do much to help Sanjar.  In addition, many of his 
father's former contacts in government have since lost their 
positions. 
 
¶12.  (C) Arslan reported that Rafik Sayfullin, the former 
head of Uzbekistan's Strategic Studies Institute and now an 
"independent" political consultant, served as an informal 
consultant for the Sunshine Coalition before his father's 
imprisonment.  In June, Sayfullin traveled to Washington, 
where he met with Gulam about Sanjar Umarov (Sayfullin also 
had meetings on other topics with U.S. government officials 
and representatives of non-governmental organizations). 
According to Arslan, upon his return, Sayfullin briefed 
National Security Council Chairman Rustam Ataev and Inoyatov 
on his trip to Washington.  However, Sayfullin reportedly 
told Arslan that "no one" wants to brief President Karimov on 
Umarov's case, as Karimov "is paranoid" and has a tendency 
"to shoot the messenger." 
 
¶13.  (C) The Umarov family has hired Anatoliy Lisunov, who 
served as the director of the Qizil-Tepe prison in the 1980s, 
to serve as Sanjar Umarov's lawyer.  Lisunov knows the 
current director of the Qizil-Tepe prison well, having served 
at one point as his supervisor.  However, Lisunov was 
reportedly told by the current prison director that Sanjar 
 
Umarov was under the "special control of Tashkent," and he 
therefore could not intervene to improve conditions for him. 
The prison official even allegedly refused to accept a bribe 
from Lisunov.  Arslan speculated that his father was under 
the "special control" of President Karimov, and only Karimov 
could decide whether to improve  conditions for Umarov or 
not. 
 
UMAROV SAYS SUNSHINE COALITION STILL ACTIVE 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶14.  (C) Arslan said that the Sunshine Coalition was still 
active and was now registered as a non-profit organization in 
the United States.  While their main focus continues to be 
Sanjar Umarov's release, Arslan said that the Sunshine 
Coalition - now headed by his older brother Gulam - continues 
to work on other human rights issues.  For example, Arslan 
reported that the Sunshine Coalition operates a fund to 
support human rights defenders in Uzbekistan, conducts 
research on the use of child labor in Uzbekistan's annual 
cotton harvest, and is working with a group of American and 
Uzbek economists to promote economic reforms in Uzbekistan. 
 
 
SANJAR'S WIFE GAINS AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶15.  (C) Arslan also reported that his mother had finally 
become a naturalized United States citizen in June.  Arslan's 
two sisters were born in the United States and are already 
citizens.  Arslan reported that his mother is interested in 
traveling to Uzbekistan on her American passport to visit her 
husband, but she is afraid to leave her daughters alone in 
the United States.  According to Arslan, the daughters have 
applied for Uzbek visas with the Uzbek Embassy in Washington, 
but have not yet received a response. 
 
REACTION OF EUROPEAN DIPLOMATS 
------------------------------ 
 
¶16.  (C) After Arslan's presentation, the attendees discussed 
what steps the West could take to intervene on Sanjar 
Umarov's behalf with the Uzbek government.  French DCM 
Christophe Le Rigoleur believed that issuing an EU 
declaration on Umarov would be counterproductive.  He noted 
that the treatment of human rights activist Mutabar 
Tojiboyeva, who was released from prison in May, appeared to 
worsen every time the EU issued a declaration on her case. 
German Political Officer Uwe Berndt agreed with Le Rigoleur 
that the Uzbek government did not respond well to public 
pressure.  He also expressed his belief that having 
high-level officials raise Umarov's case with government 
officials was possible but probably would be ineffective. 
British Political Officer Ben Greenwood believed it was 
important to raise Umarov's case with government officials, 
but likewise cautioned that is was unlikely to result in 
Umarov's release.  The EU officials also assured Arslan that 
his father was on a list of political prisoners that it had 
presented to the government and that the EU continues to urge 
the Uzbeks to release greater numbers of political prisoners 
(Note: Umarov is also on a list of political prisoners that 
the Embassy presented to the government earlier this year. 
End note.) 
 
¶17.  (C) In the end, all of the attendees agreed that the 
best approach was for the United States and European 
Embassies to privately express concerns to the government 
over reports of Umarov's worsening health and request that he 
be released on medical grounds.  As poloff noted, Umarov's 
release would be in the government's best interest, as his 
deteriorating health is becoming another public relations 
 
disaster for the Karimov regime. 
 
ARSLAN DISCUSSES CONFLICTING REPORTS IN PREVIOUS MEETING 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
 
¶18.  (C) Poloff also met separately with Arslan on July 23. 
At that meeting, poloff inquired with Arslan about a report 
from June that Umarov's condition had improved in prison, 
which had been relayed to poloff by Sunshine Coalition member 
Nigara Khidoyatova (ref E).  Arslan reported that his aunt 
had visited Umarov in June, but she could only see him 
through glass.  After that meeting, the aunt told Arslan that 
Umarov's mental condition had appeared to improve since she 
last saw him in March, but also noted that his body was 
covered in a black robe and it was difficult to assess his 
general health.  Arslan added that his family did not share 
everything they know about Umarov with Khidoyatova, as they 
did not fully trust her. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶19.  (C) The informal roundtable served as a substantive 
follow-up to the DRL-sponsored "Prisoner of Conscience" panel 
discussion at the United Nations and provided Arslan Umarov 
with the opportunity to share with European diplomats 
information about his father's deteriorating health in 
prison.  It also enabled Western diplomats in Tashkent the 
opportunity to formulate a common message to deliver to the 
government on the issue.  Arslan appears to be a sincere 
young man and genuinely worried about his father's worsening 
health.  While it is impossible for us to verify his 
information, we believe that it is credible. 
BUTCHER