Erk (Freedom) was Uzbekistan's first official opposition party, registered just months before the collapse of the Soviet Union. Erk and Birlik (Unity), an Erk splinter party, were briefly active after independence. However, both parties were reportedly banned within two years and their members were arrested in large numbers for alleged 'anti-state' activities, with Uzbek President Karimov citing concern for domestic stability in the face of civil war in neighbouring Tajikistan: 'It is necessary to straighten out the brains of one hundred people in order to preserve the lives of hundreds of thousands (1).'

The following writers and Erk members were arrested in early 1999 in connection with a series of explosions in Tashkent, in which a dozen people were killed (2). It is thought that the arrests and subsequent convictions of these writers were linked to their writings in and the distribution of the party's newspaper, Uzbekistan's last opposition newspaper until it was banned in 1993, and to their association with the exiled Erk leader Muhammad Salih. Salih, himself a poet and the only independent candidate ever to challenge Islam Karimov for the post of president, has been living in exile in Norway since he left Uzbekistan in 1993 during the government's crackdown on opposition groups. He was tried in absentia for allegedly orchestrating a February 1999 assassination attempt against President Karimov, and thus faces a long prison term should he return to Uzbekistan.

Well-known writer and activist for the opposition party Erk Mamadali Makhmudov was arrested at his home in Tashkent on February 19, 1999. He was held incommunicado until May 1999, and was subsequently charged with 'threatening the president' and 'threatening the constitutional order'. He was found guilty on August 3, 1999 and was sentenced to fourteen years' imprisonment.

Mamadali Makhmudov, a member of the Uzbek Writers Union and the Uzbek Cultural Foundation, is a writer in the traditional 'dastan' style of epic verse which typically features a hero with magical qualities. Under the Soviet Union the dastan was said to be 'impregnated with the poison of feudalism' and Makhmudov was forced to repudiate his work. After the Soviet Union collapsed his most famous work, Immortal Cliffs, was retroactively awarded the Cholpan Prize. In 1991, Makhmudov supported the political party of a fellow writer, Muhammad Salih. The party lost the elections and has been banned ever since.

Makhmudov was first arrested in 1994 when his house was raided and police produced a firearm as evidence that he was guilty of terrorism. The charge met with widespread disbelief and was dropped. He was then charged with embezzlement and sentenced to four years in prison. An international campaign was mounted on his behalf, and when no evidence was produced he was given a presidential amnesty and released.

The following excerpts were taken from a letter written by Mamadali Makhmudov on May 2, 2003 and detail the torture that he experienced and witnessed in Navoi, Jaslyk and Chirchik prisons. It is taken from an unofficial translation by Human Rights Watch, and is available from the Erk website: www.uzbekistanerk.org/Erkinfo290403ru_2eturan.htm

From early morning to evening they made us crawl, run, sing the national anthem; they threw us into the psych ward, etc. There were serial murderers [at the Navoi prison] who had killed six people apiece, but they were barely mistreated….I lost consciousness twice in the courtyard and later the doctors said, "It's rare that anyone in that condition survives."

As we entered the "zone" [in Jaslyk prison], the cops fell upon us. They had truncheons, steel pipes… they began to hammer us. We lay scattered, everywhere blood, blood. Some had their legs broken, some had their skulls fractured, some were just outright killed. A constant wailing surrounded us. I was hit with a steel pipe and lost consciousness. When I came to, I saw that I was lying naked on the second floor [of the prison]. ….Then they dragged us to the cells, still naked…We weren't allowed to lift our heads. If we did, we'd be beaten to a pulp. They beat us anyway. They beat us for no reason. They kicked us and yelled, "Traitor to the homeland, Enemy of the people!"

Muhammad Bekjanov, a former contributor to the newspaper of the opposition party Erk and Muhammad Salih's brother, was deported from the Ukraine on March 15, 1999 and subsequently sentenced to fifteen years' imprisonment.. His other brothers Rashid and Kamil were sentenced to twelve and ten years in prison at the same time. Kamil was released in a general amnesty in 2002, but Rashid remains in prison.

According to reports, including Mamadali Makhmudov's letter from Chirchik Prison, Muhammad Bekjanov has undergone torture while in detention. The following excerpt from Makhmudov's letter refers to Bekjanov's treatment at the hands of the Navoi prison guards:

'In Navoi, Muhammad and I were in the same zone…Muhammad withered in front of my eyes…Then he was thrown into another division. He crushed stones from morning to night…His leg was broken during a beating. He suffered horribly from the pain in his leg.'

On June 18, 2003, Galima Bukharbaeva and Kudrat Babajanov of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) were permitted to visit Muhammad Bekjanov in a prison hospital in Tashkent - his first interview since he was imprisoned in 1999. He told the IWPR that, as a result of beatings received in prison, he is deaf in his right ear and his leg was broken. He is also suffering from tuberculosis, which he contracted after spending long periods of time imprisoned in damp cellars.

Yusuf Ruzimuradov , a leading opposition party member and former editor-in-chief of the party's newspaper, was deported from the Ukraine in March 1999 and sentenced to 8 years' imprisonment on charges of 'attempting to overthrow the government by force', 'membership of an illegal organisation' and 'slander' of the Uzbek president on August 18, 1999. According to a written statement submitted by Reporters sans Frontières on January 18, 2003, violent threats were made against members of his family, and torture and psychological incentives were used to obtain his confession.

International PEN considers Mamadali Makhmudov, Muhammed Bekjanov and Yusuf Rusimuradov to be detained in violation of their rights to freedom of expression and association. It is calling for their release.

Please contact ftw@pen.org if you have any questions.