Fifteen persons suspected of organization of terrorist acts in Tashkent in late March, 2004, are standing trial. All defendants pleaded guilty. Some of them began giving sensational evidence. They claim that the terrorist acts in Tashkent and Bukhara were ordered by Taliban ex-leader Mullah Omar and that would-be terrorists were trained in Kazakhstan.

The defendants are 13 men and 2 women aged 20 to 40. Charges against them were brought this Monday under 17 articles of the Criminal Code of Uzbekistan including terrorism, attempts to overthrow the regime, and religious extremism. Sources in the Prosecutor General's Office say that all documents on the charges brought against other terrorists will be forwarded to judges in the near future. According to the prosecutor's office, 45 persons were arrested in connection with the explosions. Unofficial sources refer to over 200 arrests. Terrorist acts in Tashkent and the Bukhara region between March 28 and April 1 this year claimed 47 lives (33 gunmen, 10 policemen, and 4 bystanders).

"They distorted Islam, they forced women to join their gangs. They created zombies and made their followers take up arms and die for their ideas," said Prosecutor Murad Salikhov opening the trial. The building was heavily guarded, with all nearby streets cordoned off. Foreign diplomats and journalists were present in the courtroom but not the defendants' families. There is the widespread opinion in Tashkent that the authorities may decide to organize two or three show trials of the worst extremists but keep the rest under the lid. There are also the rumors that most terrorists, if convicted, may be sentenced to death.

"This outcome is extremely likely," said an Uzbek human rights activist. "The only question is whether all of them will be punished or not. Finding followers of extremist trends in Islamic Uzbekistan is not a problem. Proving that these people took arms and began terrorizing the population is much more difficult. All that is happening reminds me of banal mob wars. After all, nobody has told us plainly what these terrorists were after. As for the alleged attempts to overthrow the government, that's a laugh. To do that, nobody explodes bombs in the locations with no crowds around."

All defendants pleaded guilty as soon as the trial began and began confessing membership in the notorious Al Qaeda, Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, and Hizb-ut-Tahrir, the movement striving for establishment of an Islamic caliphate in the Ferghana Valley. Farkhod Kazakbayev, 22, admitted existence and operations in Uzbekistan of a network of extremist groups. Called Zhamoat [Society], it had Al Qaeda and Hizb-ut-Tahrir connections and intended to topple President Islam Karimov.

Prosecutor General Rashidzhon Kadyrov had said already that there were several gangs (zhamoats) in some regions of Uzbekistan. According to Kadyrov, the kingpin whose identity and whereabouts he refused to disclose "in the interests of investigation" was running zhamoats from abroad providing finances and training facilities. Kazakbayev disclosed the identity of this coordinator, yesterday. He is citizen of Uzbekistan Nasriddin Dzhalalov, Mullah Omar's subordinate wanted by the authorities of Uzbekistan for crimes. According to the investigation, members of the gangs were regularly brainwashed by audio and video programs and literature calling to overthrow the regime and establish a caliphate in the Ferghana Valley.

Despite the confessions and evidence, the defendants failed to explain their strange choice of objects for the terrorist acts that could never bring about their reputed objective (overthrow of the regime). Human rights activists ascribe it to the fact that all defendants were tortured before the trial.

There are the rumors in Tashkent that this turn of events will help Karimov in his war on opponents, first and foremost on Hizb-ut-Tahrir. Concentrating on intrigues of some external forces, the authorities do what they can to forget internal discord and problems in the country.

The trial began with an international scandal. Reading aloud the bill of indictment, Prosecutor Murad Khalikov said that the terrorists had been trained on the territory of Kazakhstan. Defendant Furkat Yusupov, 24, who called himself assistant to Zhamoat leader Akhmad Bekmirzayev killed in a skirmish with the police, confessed that he himself had been trained in Vasiristan (Pakistan) and later established a similar training camp in Kazakhstan.

The authorities of Kazakhstan were indignant to hear of the innuendo. National Security Committee categorically denounced Khalikov's words. According to the PR Department of the National Security Committee, Kazakh secret services had run a check on the possibility of involvement of citizens of Kazakhstan and Uzbeks in Kazakhstan then, in the tragedy. No terrorist training camps were discovered on the territory of the country. "Law enforcement agencies of Uzbekistan know it all too well," said a source in the National Security Committee of Kazakhstan.

TERRORISTS PLANTED IN UZBEKISTAN

Dmitry Glumskov, Mikhail Zygar

Kommersant, July 28, 2004, p. 11

© Translated by Ferghana.Ru