E/CN.4/2003/68/Add.2 page 46 Maxim Yurevich Strahov, a former military officer who had suffered a serious head injury while serving in Chechnya, was reportedly arrested in a shop in Tashkent on 30 September 2000 by GUVD officers on suspicion of having murdered four people. He is said to have been taken to the Mirzo-Ulugbek district police station where he was allegedly seen by his mother, while he was being dragged to an interrogation room on 2 October. He is said to have been held there for one week before being transferred to the lock-up of the Tashkent City Department of Internal Affairs (GUVD). There, he was allegedly beaten by up to 12 officers and a gas mask was put on his face with a view to asphyxiating him. According to the information received, he was also subjected to the technique referred to as “the helicopter”, by which someone is lifted in the air before being dropped on the floor. One month after his arrest, he was reportedly brought before a procurator. Before being taken to the procurator’s office by car, his mother is said to have briefly seen him with his face covered with bruises and bloodstains behind the ears. According to the information received, he was provided with a State-appointed lawyer to whom his mother gave a bribe to make sure that he would take an active part in the pre-trial investigation. This lawyer later reportedly refused to defend Maxim Yurevich Strarhov as the latter was facing death sentence charges. Three different lawyers were later hired, but none had access to the criminal file. A medical consultation to check the mental health of the defendant is said to have been refused by the judge, but to have been later authorized by the procurator in the case. The medical opinion is said to have only stated that, as a former serviceman in Chechnya, Maxim Yurevich Strarhov may well have murdered four people. On 18 March 2001, he was reportedly sentenced to death. According to the information received, he was not executed within the usual three-month period because of a moratorium in force at that time. It is believed that he was eventually executed on 20 May 2002. His mother is said to have received a death certificate issued by the Yunusabad district registration office a month after the execution. It is also reported that she was subjected to various pressures, including at her workplace, to make her stop complaining about her son’s case. Despite her several requests, she does not know whether the case of her son was reviewed by the Supreme Court. Fayzullaev Nigmat, a friend of Maxhim Yurevich Strarhov, who was arrested at the same time and who was facing the same charges, is believed to have been executed around the same date. Tohir Mahmudovich Hudoybergshov, born in 1975, is said to have been arrested on 6 December 2000 in Hadaras and sentenced to 16 years’ imprisonment. Reportedly, no lawyer was appointed to him and no witnesses were heard during the trial. It is believed that Tohir Mahmudovich Hudoybergshov was beaten by SNB and GUVD officers from the Hasaras region on his back and head with a baton and that he was given electroshocks while in custody. As a result, it is reported that he had pain in his arms and legs and high blood pressure. Tohir Mahmudovich Hudoybergshov’s mother reportedly complained to the responsible forces ever since her son was arrested, to no avail. Aleksander Sergeevich Kornetov, born in 1977, was reportedly arrested on 11 January 2001 and taken to the Chilanzar Regional Department of the MVD. His mother and wife were reportedly not officially informed about his detention, and were only allowed to visit him one week after his arrest. Murder charges were reportedly brought against him on 16 January 2001, after he was allegedly beaten and kicked, particularly on the head, by the investigator in the case and three persons in plain clothes. As a result, he was allegedly left unconscious for an undetermined period of time, and was subsequently forced to sign a confession admitting his guilt. According to the information received, he was then transferred to