E/CN.4/2003/68/Add.2 page 31 had been forced to write the accusations, and that Akhmat Turakhanov had never taken part in religious activities. The only two witnesses who gave testimony against him reportedly stated that they had heard about illegal activities but could not specify them further when questioned by the judge. His lawyer stated that the defendant had previously lodged a complaint against the two witnesses and that their testimony was not reliable. The judge reportedly sentenced him to five years. Akhmat Turakhanov reportedly hit his head against the cage in which he was kept during the trial and protested that he was tried unfairly. He is said to have bled heavily and was taken away on a stretcher. He is said to have been denied regular doses of insulin as a diabetic, and reportedly was unable to walk. At the Tashturma, his sons were reportedly barred from handing him insulin. As a result of the refusal of medical treatment, he reportedly died in the prison. Rusmetov Saber and two of his sons, Uigun and Ozbek, were reportedly arrested on 1 January 1999, while a third son is believed to have escaped police arrest. On the four previous days, his house had been searched on several occasions by police officers without any search warrant during which a number of items, such as passports, diplomas, etc., were confiscated. It is alleged that bullets were planted in his disabled daughter’s room and that an old religious book on Islam was found. Police officers were said to have stayed at his place watching his wife until 6 February 1999. During that period, Rusmetov Saber’s wife, Sultanova Rustamovna Dharman was even accompanied to the toilet at gunpoint and was threatened with death if she did not cooperate. According to the information, the family was targeted because they were suspected of being Wahhabists. Rusmetov Saber and his two sons were reportedly taken to the Urgench City police station on the day of their arrest and Sultanova Dharman was asked to come to bring them food and new clothes. There, she is alleged to have been stripped to her underwear, to have been humiliated in front of other detainees, to have been insulted and to have been held in a dark room for 24 hours. As a result, she is said to have been seriously distressed. It is believed that, in the meantime, Rusmetov Saber and his sons were forced to sign confessions. It is in particular reported that they were told that, if they did not sign confessions, their wife/mother would be raped. Despite her repeated requests to investigators, Sultanova Dharman was not authorized to provide her relatives with a lawyer. On 25 May 1999, Rusmetov Saber was reportedly taken on a stretcher to the Khozorap district court which sentenced him to five years’ imprisonment on charges of illegal possession of drugs and bullets. It is believed that he had never seen a lawyer during the whole judicial process and was seriously beaten up at the Urgench City police station with a view to making him confess. He was reportedly amnestied after having spent three years in detention in various facilities, including Navoi 29, Karshi 64 and a prison in the Tashkent region. It is said that his wife was never informed of any of these transfers and that she could only keep track of his whereabouts thanks to the information provided by relatives of co-inmates of her husband. According to the information received, as a result of the treatment he was subjected to, Rusmetov Saber is now mentally disturbed. At some point, it is reported that the two sons, Uigun and Ozbek, were transferred to the National Security Service (SNB) headquarters in Tashkent. The family was reportedly not informed of their transfer. The trial is said to have been held at the Tashkent Regional Court in camera as of 1 July 1999. During the trial, thanks to a bribe paid to one of the guards, a paper was smuggled out in which the defendants requested their mother to provide them with a lawyer as they had not seen any during either the pre-trial investigation, or the trial. Sultanova Dharman is said to have been denied access to the court room by the judge, who is believed to have stated that Wahhabists are not authorized to attend trials. It is believed that the