Tashkent-based lawyer Sergei Mayorov has called on Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev and other officials "to stop torturing" lawyer and journalist Dauletmurat Tajimuratov, who was handed a 16-year prison sentence in late January over anti-government protests in the Karakalpakstan region last year.
In a video statement, Mayorov said he now represents Tajimuratov, whom he called "a political prisoner."
Mayorov said that his client's head was forcibly shaved on April 6 even though his sentence has yet to take force and he could still be released if his appeal against his sentence is accepted in court.
"It appears as though there is an order to create unbearable conditions for him," Mayorov stressed.
"They provided him with an old, torn mattress without padding inside, a terrible-smelling pillow, and horrible sheets. That was done to humiliate and offend him. He is ordered to clean his cell, which he does not refuse to do, but they do not provide him with a broom, a mop, or a bucket," Mayorov said, adding that specially instructed cellmates are putting Tajimuratov under physical and psychological pressure.
According to Mayorov, his client has been beaten in custody.
"Mr. President, give an order to stop torturing political prisoner Dauletmurat Tajimuratov at least until his sentence comes into force," Mayorov said in his video statement.
Tajimuratov, a lawyer for the El Khyzmetinde (At People's Service) newspaper, where he was previously the chief editor, was sentenced on January 31 by the Bukhara regional court along with 21 other defendants accused of undermining the constitutional order for taking part in the mass protests in Karakalpakstan's capital, Nukus, in early July 2022.
One of the activists, Polat Shamshetov, who was convicted along with Tajimuratov, died in custody days after he was sentenced to six years in prison.
Self-exiled Karakalpak activists have expressed suspicion that the 45-year-old Shamshetov might have been tortured to death in custody and demanded a thorough investigation of his death, while Uzbek authorities have said he died of "thromboembolism of the pulmonary artery and acute heart failure."
Last month, another 39 Karakalpak activists accused of taking part in the protests in Nukus were convicted and 28 of them were sentenced to prison terms of between five and 11 years, while 11 defendants were handed parole-like sentences.
Uzbek authorities say 21 people died in Karakalpakstan during the protests, which were sparked by the announcement of a planned change to the constitution that would have undermined the region's right to self-determination.
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The Carefully Managed Trials Of Karakalpak Protesters
The violence forced President Mirziyoev to make a rare about-face and scrap the proposal.
Mirziyoev accused "foreign forces" of being behind the unrest, without further explanation, before backing away from the proposed changes.
Karakalpaks are a Central Asian Turkic-speaking people. Their region used to be an autonomous area within Kazakhstan before becoming autonomous within the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in 1930 and then part of Uzbekistan in 1936.
The European Union has called for an independent investigation into the violence.