Kadyr Yusupov

Extra Bio Info:

Kadyr Yusupov was mistreated in prison for fighting for prisoner religious freedom rights and his religious activity. 

In or around December 2018, authorities arrested Yusupov, who served as Uzbekistan’s permanent representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and deputy ambassador to the United Kingdom, shortly after he attempted suicide.  Security officials interrogated Yusupov while he was hospitalized, and it is unclear if he was fit for questioning and whether anything he said while recovering could legally be used as evidence. Yusupov suffers from schizophrenia. Following his arrest, Yusupov was held incommunicado for over four months at the Tashkent security services' pre-trial detention center. He was repeatedly denied access to counsel and subjected to severe psychological torture, including threats of harm and rape to his immediate family members.

In January 2020, Yusupov was convicted of treason (Art. 157) and sentenced to five years and six months in prison following a closed trial. The purported basis for his conviction was a confession he purportedly made from his hospital bed outside the presence of counsel. 

In April 2020, Yusupov raised concerns that prisoners were being denied the right to observe the Ramadan fast to the head of the prison. He additionally raised questions about difficult working conditions at the prison factory. In retaliation, prison officials placed Yusupov and other prisoners in solitary confinement for 15 days where he was kept in highly unsanitary conditions. Yusupov told relatives that his solitary confinement cell contained mice and dirt, and that he was fully covered in feces by the time he was removed 15 days later. In protest of his mistreatment, he went on hunger strike for five days.

In the second half of 2021, Yusupov was reportedly beaten by prisoners in two separate incidents, with prison authorities allegedly depriving him of proper medical care.

Yusupov’s family has been denied visitation with him on several occasions since the start of his detention.

Yusupov is currently serving his sentence in CEP 4 in Navoi.

In June 2021, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention released an opinion, declaring Yusupov's imprisonment arbitrary and calling for his immediate release.