KHUJAND, August 27, 2011, Asia-Plus — Ms. Malohat Abduazimova, the wife of the BBC correspondent Urunboy Usmonov, who was invited to attend the court hearing on August 26, said that when security officers brought her husband with them on June 14 to search their home there were visible signs of beating on his head and face.
According to her, her husband looked very bad. “He said he was defamed,” said Abduazimova, “He said that he was detained a day before and security officers came to search our home. He told us that if what they did to him previous night repeats, he will not bear that any longer.”
But representatives of the State Committee for National Security (SCNS)’s office in Sughd province denied beating Urunboy Usmonov.
Khurshed Dosov, head of the investigation department within the SCNS’s office in Sughd said he had not seen signs of beating on the journalist’s head and face and noted that Urunboy Usmonov was detained on June 14 as it was officially registered. He noted that investigator Saidmuhiddin Saymuddino, who was investigating Usmonov’s case, was young and could make mistake.
Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reports that Usmonov’s lawyers quoted Khurshed Dosov as saying on August 26 that Usmonov should have been provided with a lawyer immediately after his arrest, and search of his home was not legal.
In the meantime, another witness, head of the SCNS department in Sughd’s Bobojonghafurov district Eraj Davlatov did not appear before the court on August 26 as well.
According to RFE/RL’s Tajik Service, Usmonov’s lawyer Fayzinso Vohidova said the group of security agents who arrested Usmonov and searched his home acted illegally, because under Tajik law this is the task of investigators. For that reason, Vohidova said, the materials the security agents took from Usmonov”s home could not be used as evidence during his trial.
Urunboy Usmonov and four other defendants face substantial fines or jail terms of up to five years, or both, if convicted.
The next court hearing over Urunboy Usmonov’s case is scheduled for September 6.
We will recall that the trial of Urunboy Usmonov accused of associating with banned Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir began in the northern city of Khujand on August 16. Usmonov denies the charges, saying any meetings he had with Hizb ut-Tahrir members were for purely journalistic purposes.
Usmonov was reportedly arrested on June 13 and following an international outcry he was released on bail on July 14.
