Azam Farmonov
| Azam Farmonov | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Uzbekistani |
| Occupation | rural development activist |
| Known for | 2006 imprisonment |
| Spouse(s) | Ozoda Yakubova |
Azam Farmonov is a currently-imprisoned Uzbekistani rural development activist. Amnesty International considers him a prisoner of conscience and named him a 2011 "priority case".[1]
Farmonov has a wife, Ozoda Yakubova, and two children.[2] His father-in-law, Talib Yakubov, is the Vice President of the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan.[2]
On 29 April 2006, Farmonov was arrested along with fellow activist Alisher Karamatov and charged with extortion.[1] The two later reported torture by security forces, including partial suffocation with a disconnected gas mask and beatings on the legs and heels.[1] Human Rights Watch condemned the trial and stated that it "appear[ed] to be a politically motivated effort to stop their human rights work" in keeping with a recent pattern of suspicious charges against human rights workers.[3] Front Line also described the arrests as politically motivated and "part of an ongoing campaign against human rights defenders in Uzbekistan."[4] Amnesty International also condemned the charges and called for the immediate release of Farmonov and Karamatov.[1] Uzbekistani government officials, however, denied that the extortion charges were politically motivated.[3]
Both men were convicted and sentenced to nine years in prison.[1] As of February 2010, Farmonov was currently serving his sentence at Yaslik "severe regime" prison camp in violation of his sentence, which called for a "general regime" camp.[5] According to his wife, he has repeatedly been placed in a "punishment cell," and on 8 January 2008, was stripped naked, handcuffed, and left in an unheated punishment cell for 23 days.[5]
References
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