AFP, published in Tengri news : http://en.tengrinews.kz/crime/Rights-group-accuses-Uzbekistan-of-torture-in-jails–6164/
Ahead of the review of Uzbekistan by the UN Commitee against Torture which will take place on 29 October 2013, the Uzbek Bureau on Human Rights and Rule of Law (UBHRRL), with the support of FIDH, published a report on “Uzbekistan’s Implementation of the CAT”.
Despite the fact that Uzbekistan ratified the UN Convention against Torture (CAT) in 1995 and has since submitted four reports to the UN, torture remains a systemic practice. The report provides responses to the list of issues published by the UN Committee and reviews Uzbekistan’s implementation of the Committee’s most recent concluding observations. It looks at Uzbekistan’s definition of torture, the overall attitude of the authorities, the impact of the habeas corpus (introduced in 2008) on prevention of torture.
It further reviews the independence of the judiciary, the right to complain about torture and the right of access to a lawyer. Finally, the document analyses the situation of human rights defenders working against torture in Uzbekistan and the use of torture in the “war of terror”.
