E/CN.4/2003/68/Add.2 page 63 “[t]his man has suffered extensive systematic blunt impact trauma, caused by substantial force. The blunt impact trauma could be due to multiple causes including, kicking and striking with an object such as wood, e.g. a chair leg, a cylindrical long object such as a type of baton. The parallel bruises noted are typical of just such an appearance. Multiple blows with an open hand or a fist are also possibilities”. Iskander Khudoberganov (Rasul and Ravshan Haitov’s stepbrother - see case above), Bekzod Kazymbekov, Nosirkhon Khakimov, Orifzhon Vasykovich Kadyrov, Asatulla Boltaevich Abdullaev and Abdunabi Khikmatovich Sharipov were sentenced to death or to prison sentences on 28 November 2002 in the Tashkent City Court. According to the information received, Iskander Khudoberganov was sentenced to death, inter alia, for “anticonstitutional activity” (art. 159 (4)), the organization of a criminal group (art. 242 (1) and (2)), terrorism (art. 155 (2)), murder (art. 97 (2)), aggression (art. 151), robbery (art. 164) and the instigation of national, racial or religious hatred (art. 156 (2)). Bekzod Kasymbekov and Nosirkhon Khakimov were reportedly sentenced to 16 years in prison, under strict regime, for attempted robbery (art. 28-164, 4 (a), (b)). Orifzhon Kaedyrov and Asatulla Abdullaev were said to have been sentenced to six years’ imprisonment in the general regime for anticonstitutional activity (art. 159 (3) (a) and (b)) and Abdunabi Shapirov to 10 years in strict regime for the organization of a criminal group (art. 242 (1) and (2)) and anticonstitutional activity (art. 159 (4)). In the sentencing the judge is said to have stated that his verdict relied exclusively on the statements and confessions of the defendants and witnesses. Throughout the trial, three of the defendants, namely Iskander Khudoberganov, Nosirkhon Khakimov and Bekzod Kasymbekov had insisted several times that they had been forced to make self-incriminating statements as a result of torture and other forms of ill-treatment they had been subjected to while in custody, as well as threats and actual ill-treatment against family members. Furthermore, two witnesses reportedly stated in court that they had been ill-treated, and that they too retracted their statements. On 19 November 2002, one of the witnesses, Farkhod Kadirkulov, is said to have stated in court that he had been beaten in order to incriminate himself and the defendants. The judge in the case reportedly dismissed all allegations of torture, telling Iskander Khudoberganov that the Ministry of Internal Affairs was not “a holiday resort” or a “sanatorium” and replied to Bekzod Kazymbekov that he was just telling the court “about torture, not about [his] crimes”. He is furthermore said to have accused the defendants of “making up” the allegations of torture in order to “get away from (their) criminal responsibility”. The magistrate reportedly failed to order any impartial and prompt investigation to be carried out into the allegations of torture. No independent evidence was reportedly produced as a proof of the charges against the defendants. Iskander Khudoberganov was reportedly arrested in Tajikistan on 24 August 2001 and handed over to Uzbek law enforcement officials from the MVD on 5 February 2002. He was reportedly detained in the basement of the MVD in Tashkent where he was pressured to confess to a murder and a robbery. He was allegedly told that if he did not confess, he would die there and his family would never find out about his fate. He was reportedly beaten with clubs, metal rods, a chair, kicked in his kidneys and twice given electric shocks. As a result, he reportedly agreed to confess. Subsequently, he was reportedly transferred to the building of the SNB in Tashkent on 12 February 2002. There, he was allegedly also beaten, deprived of sleep and was administered injections against his will. During the investigation process, he was reportedly kept in incommunicado detention. His family is said to have found out about his arrest only in March 2002. In February 1999, Iskander Khudoberganov had reportedly gone into hiding after