Andijan Victims Let Down by German Ruling

   

09-Feb-07

NBCentralAsia observers doubt that a group of people who suffered in the 2005 Andijan uprising and its aftermath will succeed in their attempt to secure a prosecution against a senior Uzbek official under German law.

Earlier this month, torture victims and other Andijan survivors, backed by the international watchdog Human Rights Watch, filed an appeal against the German federal prosecutor’s refusal to start criminal proceedings against the former Uzbek interior minister Zokirjon Almatov.

The plaintiffs accuse Almatov of crimes against humanity, alleging he knowingly ignored cases of torture in Uzbek prisons, and gave orders to open fire on peaceful demonstrators during the Andijan uprising on May 13, 2005.

The original action, filed under German legislation that allows the investigation into international crimes, was brought in December 2005.

According to Human Rights Watch, only a few months after the Andijan killings, the German authorities gave Almatov a visa to come to the country for medical treatment, even though he was one of 12 named top Uzbek officials banned from entering the European Union as part of a package of sanctions.

Davron Sharipov, chief political consultant with the Uzbekistan Committee for National Salvation, an umbrella group of non-government organisations, does not believe the latest appeal will have any effect on the German government.

“I’m quite certain that no EU member state treat actions taken by international human rights organisations against political repression in Uzbekistan seriously. Germany’s government will simply ignore [their] protests, including this appeal,” he said.

Sharipov does not, however, see any need to persist with attempts to prosecute Almatov.

“I don’t think Almatov is the most bloodthirsty of the 12 officials barred from entering the EU,” he said.

New York-based human rights consultant Acacia Shields does not agree. “There is ample evidence of years of systematic torture by the law-enforcement agencies. As interior minister at the time, Almatov should be held to account for the horrors that took place in Andijan,” she said.

Shields said that under German law, anyone accused of crimes against humanity must be held to account regardless of where the crime was committed. She is disappointed that the prosecutor did not follow the legislation in this case, and believes the appeal provides a good opportunity to review his decision and “do the right thing”.

A Tashkent-based observer suggests that Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government is motivated by quite different factors, saying that the appeal will have little effect as Germany’s principal interest is the prospect of exploring, extracting and exporting hydrocarbon resources from Uzbekistan.

(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)