Uzbeks 'use forced confessions'

BBC News October 12 A major trial of 15 alleged Islamic militants in Uzbekistan has entered its fourth week. The 15 are accused of trying to start an uprising in the eastern town of Andijan and found an Islamic state. All of them have pleaded guilty to the charges and given long accounts of their alleged crimes. But a former Uzbek government employee, as well as many foreign observers, say they have probably been forced into making these confessions. Uzbekistan has seen numerous trials of alleged Islamic extremists in recent years, in which the accused deliver long monologues recounting their crimes. They are then sentenced to long jail terms, or sometimes to death. A former employee of the Uzbek Interior Ministry has explained to the BBC the methods he claims are used to obtain these confessions. The source said he could not be identified for his own security. He said that people accused of common crimes were routinely beaten if they refuse to sign confessions - often in the kidneys, the liver or the tailbone, which leaves less visible injuries. One method used to prepare someone for further questioning is to put a gas mask over his head and periodically close the oxygen vent, causing near-suffocation. The source said those accused of political or religious crimes are often injected with a psychotropic drug, such as barbamil, which lowers their psychological resistance to questioning. The source said the interrogators then present the accused with a detailed confession to sign, which agrees with the state prosecutors' account. Intimidation If he refuses, said the source, then threats might be made against his wife, children or other close relatives to force him to sign. The accused then has to learn the false confession so he can repeat it in court, said the source. He added that further doses of the drug are sometimes given to the accused to ensure docile behaviour during the court proceedings. It is impossible to confirm the details of this account, as the Uzbek security forces do not speak openly about investigations. But they are consistent with victims' accounts routinely cited by human rights groups, as evidence of the methods used to obtain confessions, in Uzbekistan and other ex-Soviet republics. The Uzbek government has denied that torture is used in its judicial system.