AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program

View Alerts By > Case | Date | Country | Victim

AAAS Human Rights Action Network

FACTS OF THE CASE:

On 27 August 2005 Uzbek authorities arrested Elena Urlaeva, a human rights activist and member of the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan. She was arrested for the "attempt to distribute a caricature of the Uzbek symbol and possession of leaflets containing anticonstitutional text." Authorities placed Urlaeva in a state psychiatric care hospital and placed her on powerful psychotropic drugs on 21 October 2005 despite independent medical examinations that have determined that she is sane and does not require mental health care or psychotropic drugs. Human rights advocates are concerned that the authorities are using old Soviet tactics of psychiatric detention and forcible treatment against political opponents.

According to reports, in addition to four copies of the caricature of Uzbek symbols, Urlaeva was also carrying 75 copies of a pamphlet describing the Ozod Dekhon ("Free Peasants") party, an unregistered independent opposition political party of which she is a member. The government said she was also carrying 65 pages of printed text "critical of the policies of the president and government of Uzbekistan." Police charged her with desecrating state symbols under article 215 of the Uzbek Criminal Code. However, this provision of the criminal code does not provide for detention during the investigation phase.

After her arrest, authorities ordered that Urlaeva be transferred to the Tashkent City Psychiatric Hospital for observation to determine her mental state. On 20 September, the psychiatric commission pronounced her sane and declared that she did not require any psychiatric treatment. Instead of being released, however, she was transferred on 23 September to the Republican Psychiatric Hospital for additional psychiatric evaluation. On 30 September, a psychiatric commission at the state hospital for contested and difficult cases declared Urlaeva insane and in need of treatment and observation in a psychiatric institution. Urlaeva told representatives of Human Rights Watch that the second commission evaluating her sanity asked her no questions and ignored her when she asked for a postponement of the assessment until she had fully recovered from a five-day fast. On 18 October 2005, a criminal court held a hearing and issued an order for Urlaeva's commitment and psychiatric treatment. Neither Urlaeva, her lawyer nor her family was informed of the hearing or able to challenge the decision.

As an outspoken critic of the government, Urlaeva has been subjected to constant police surveillance, frequent house arrest, arbitrary detention and interrogation, as well as psychiatric detention and forcible treatment (in 2001 and 2002). In March 2003, Urlaeva underwent a voluntary psychiatric evaluation by a commission of psychiatrists from the Independent Psychiatric Association of the Russian Human Rights Research Center. The commission found that Urlaeva was sane, and did not require treatment or commitment. The case against Urlaeva is believed to be related to the Uzbek government's increasing repression of human rights defenders and independent political activists. Holly Cartner, director of the Europe and Central Asia section of Human Rights Watch, stated "[the detention] is an insidious attempt to equate criticism of the government with insanity. The Uzbek government has shown its willingness to use Stalinist-era tactics in its campaign against human rights defenders."

The American Psychiatric Association (APA) Committee on International Abuse of Psychiatry and Psychiatrists defines the abuse and misuse of psychiatry as situations where "psychiatric knowledge, assessment, or practice is used to further morally illegitimate organizational, social, or political objectives." The APA Board of Trustees adopted a Statement on the Identification of Abuse and Misuse of Psychiatry in 1998 that states, "Psychiatrists shall not detain or incarcerate persons for political reasons, use medical knowledge for interrogation, persuasion or torture, or provide unsubstantiated diagnoses for use against political dissidents, whistleblowers or others."

(Sources of information for this case include: Human Rights Watch, Human Rights First, Reuters AlertNet, and the American Psychiatric Association Statement on the Identification of Abuse and Misuse of Psychiatry: http://www.psych.org/edu/other_res/lib_archives/archives/199816.pdf.)

RELEVANT HUMAN RIGHTS STANDARDS

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

• Article 10: All persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person.
• Article 19(1): Everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference.
• Article 21: The right of peaceful assembly shall be recognized.
• Article 22: Everyone shall have the right to freedom of association with others.
• Article 7: No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
• Article 9(1): Everyone has the right to liberty and security of person. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention. No one shall be deprived of his liberty except on such grounds and in accordance with such procedure as are established by law.

The Human Rights Defenders Declaration

• Article 12(2): The State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the [Universal Declaration of Human Rights].
• Article 6(b): Everyone has the right, individually and in association with others: As provided for in human rights and other applicable international instruments, freely to publish, impart or disseminate to others views, information and knowledge on all human rights and fundamental freedoms;
• Article 6(c): Everyone has the right, individually and in association with others: To study, discuss, form and hold opinions on the observance, both in law and in practice, of all human rights and fundamental freedoms and, through these and other appropriate means, to draw public attention to those matters.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

• Article 05: No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
• Article 09: No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.
• Article 19: Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
• Article 20(1): Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Please send faxes, letters, or emails:

• Requesting the immediate and unconditional release of Elena Urlaeva from the psychiatric hospital in Tashkent;
• Expressing concern that Urlaeva is being targeted for her human rights activism and participating in a peaceful protest; and
• Expressing serious concern about the apparent misuse of psychiatric hospitalization and medication as a means of targeting human rights activists.

APPEAL AND INQUIRY MESSAGES SHOULD BE SENT TO:

Islam Karimov
President of Uzbekistan
Presidential Residence
43 Uzbekistan St.
Tashkent 700163
Republic of Uzbekistan
Fax: +998 (71) 289 00 46
uzinfo@uzinfo.gov.uz
Salutation: Dear Mr. President:

COPIES SENT TO:

Abdulaziz Kamilov
Ambassador of the Republic of Uzbekistan
Embassy of the Republic of Uzbekistan
Chancery: 1746 Massachusetts Ave, NW 20036
Fax: 202-293-6804
Salutation: His Excellency

Please send copies of your appeals, and any responses you may receive, or direct any questions you may have to Sarah Olmstead, AAAS Science and Human Rights Program, 1200 New York Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20005; tel. 202-326-6787; email shrp@aaas.org; or fax 202-289-4950.

The keys to effective appeals are to be courteous and respectful, accurate and precise, impartial in approach, and as specific as possible regarding the alleged violation and the international human rights standards and instruments that apply to the situation. Reference to your scientific organization and professional affiliation is always helpful.

To ensure that appeals are current and credible, please do not continue to write appeals on this case after 90 days from the date of the posting unless an update has been issued.

Main | CSFR Letters | Science and Human Rights Program