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Reports
of torture
(June 28, 2000) Mamadali
Makmudov, Uzbekistan's most famous modern-day poet, is in dire
physical condition, according to the New York-based organization
Human Rights Watch.
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Mamadali
Makhmudov, Uzbekistan’s most famous poet, is serving
a 14-year prison sentence. Photo courtesy International
P.E.N.
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Last year, Makmudov
was sentenced to 14 years in prison for supporting the banned
opposition party Erk. He and five other people were arrested in
February 1999.
Human Rights Watch
said that Makmudov and one of his co-defendants were moved to
the brutal prison in the northern Uzbek city of Jaslyk. Uzbek
human rights activists call it "the place from which no one
returns."
According to Human
Rights Watch, Makmudov suffers from pain in his chest, sides,
and back. He is reportedly being beaten and tortured by several
means, including being forced to sit crouching for extended periods
of time with his hands behind his head.
Well-known poet
Makmudov's 114-page
Immortal Cliffs, his first major work as a writer, appeared
in 1981 in two issues of the Uzbek literary journal Shark Yildizi.
Although it displayed the "socialist realism" required
for literary works (at the time, Uzbekistan was part of the Soviet
Union), Immortal Cliffs in fact contained a strong anti-Soviet
message, and Soviet authorities pressured Makmudov to repudiate
it.
 After
the Soviet Union's collapse, Makmudov became a less marginalized
literary figure. In 1992 Immortal Cliffs retrospectively
won the country's Cholpan Prize, which is named for a poet who
was killed during the brutal purges of Soviet leader Josef Stalin.
Opposition supporter
During the 1991 presidential
elections, he chose to support "Erk," a political party
founded by his fellow-writer Muhammad Salih. The party lost the
elections to President Islam Karimov and, since 1993, the party
and its newspaper have effectively been banned; Salih has had
to flee the country.
Makmudov has been arrested
several times since 1994. His current imprisonment dates from
February 1999, when he and several others were rounded up a few
days after a series of bombs went off in the Uzbek capital of
Tashkent.
Eventually, Makmudov
and five others were brought to trial. The evidence against the
six seemed to rest entirely on their possession of banned copies
of the Erk newspaper. This led to charges of "threats"
to the president and to the constitutional order. The sentences
handed down in August 1999 ranged from 8 to 15 years in jail,
with Makhmudov receiving his 14-year term.
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