CAT/C/UZB/CO/5 their liberty. The State party should also ensure that victims of such violations obtain redress and compensation, including medical and psychosocial rehabilitation. Torture, ill-treatment, arbitrary detention, intimidation and harassment of human rights defenders and journalists 16. The Committee welcomes the State party’s decision to release from detention a substantial number of human rights defenders and journalists since September 2016, including many individuals named in paragraph 8 of its previous concluding observations. However, the Committee regrets the State party’s determination that all of the claims of arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment raised by these individuals were “unsubstantiated”, and that only one previously detained person named in the Committee’s previous concluding observations has been exonerated of the charges brought against him. 17. The Committee is concerned by allegations that human rights defenders and journalists in Uzbekistan continue to face arbitrary detention, surveillance, harassment and other measures aimed at deterring them from carrying out their work. The Committee notes with concern the allegations it has received of human rights defenders and journalists being involuntarily committed to psychiatric hospitals in order to prevent them from conducting their work, including Elena Urlayeva in March 2017 and Nafosat Ollashukurova in September 2019. It is also concerned at reports that previously detained human rights defenders Agzam Turgunov, Azam Farmonov and Dilmurod Saidov have been denied permission to establish a non-governmental organization with the objective of petitioning the authorities to investigate past allegations of torture and ill-treatment and to provide redress to victims, and at reports that they have faced intimidation and harassment for attempting to do so (arts. 4 and 12–16). 18. The State party should: (a) Ensure that prompt, impartial and effective investigations are conducted into all allegations of arbitrary deprivation of liberty, harassment and intimidation of human rights defenders – including those named in paragraph 8 of the Committee’s previous concluding observations – and journalists, and that officials found responsible for such conduct are prosecuted; (b) Take measures to exonerate persons previously convicted of criminal charges on the basis of evidence coerced through torture or following trials that did not afford the defendants fundamental due process guarantees, ensure that victims obtain redress, including compensation and rehabilitation, and consider creating an independent commission tasked with looking into these matters; (c) Ensure that human rights defenders and journalists, including those sharing information with United Nations human rights mechanisms, are able to work safely and effectively in the State party, and review and revise laws and procedures governing the registration and operation of non-governmental organizations in the State party, ensuring they do not face reprisals; (d) Review the laws and procedures governing compulsory medical treatment, including psychiatric confinement, and introduce safeguards to prevent its misuse by the authorities. The events in Andijan in 2005 19. The Committee reiterates the serious concern expressed in paragraph 11 of its previous concluding observations that the events of May 2005 in Andijan, which resulted in hundreds of deaths, have not been the subject of impartial, effective investigations, despite the State party’s acceptance of a recommendation during the universal periodic review in 2018 to establish recognition mechanisms for truth and compensation for the victims of the events in Andijan and despite the recommendation made by former High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein during his 2018 visit to the State party to ensure that victims would not be forgotten and that their grievances would be addressed (arts. 1, 4 and 12–16). 20. The Committee reiterates its recommendation (CAT/C/UZB/CO/4, para. 11) that the State party should take effective measures to institute an impartial, thorough and effective investigation into the events of May 2005 in Andijan, and publish the 5