{"id":3919,"date":"2020-12-26T10:03:55","date_gmt":"2020-12-26T10:03:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=143674"},"modified":"2020-12-26T10:03:55","modified_gmt":"2020-12-26T10:03:55","slug":"analysis-jailed-ex-diplomats-uzbek-family-turns-to-un-over-his-treason-conviction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2020\/12\/26\/analysis-jailed-ex-diplomats-uzbek-family-turns-to-un-over-his-treason-conviction\/","title":{"rendered":"Analysis: Jailed Ex-Diplomat’s Uzbek Family Turns To UN Over His Treason Conviction"},"content":{"rendered":"
Last week, Kadyr Yusupov marked his third straight birthday in jail.<\/p>\n
A 69-year-old career diplomat for Uzbekistan, Yusupov was detained shortly after a reported suicide attempt in December 2018, interrogated by security officials while hospitalized, and convicted of treason and sentenced to 5 1\/2 years in prison in January on the basis of a confession he purportedly made from his hospital bed.<\/p>\n
Yusupov is said to suffer from schizophrenia, and there were questions from the start over his fitness for questioning and whether anything he said while recovering should be used as evidence.<\/p>\n
The case has been shrouded in secrecy.<\/p>\n
A lawyer hired by Yusupov\u2019s family was forced to sign a nondisclosure agreement and was rarely allowed to meet with him.<\/p>\n
Yusupov\u2019s family has been unable to see him since he was taken into custody shortly after jumping in front of a subway train in Tashkent two years ago.<\/p>\n
So Yusupov\u2019s family sought help outside Uzbekistan.<\/p>\n
Geoffrey Robertson, a founding head of the U.K.-based Doughty Street Chambers, a private legal defense firm that focuses on human rights and civil liberties, has been brought in as legal counsel for the Yusupov family. He has said he is preparing applications on Yusupov’s behalf to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions.<\/p>\n
At a December 10 press conference, Robertson alleged a long list of procedural violations under Uzbek and international law in Yusupov\u2019s case.<\/p>\n
Yusupov is one of several people who worked many years for the Uzbek government before reports suddenly emerged saying they had been accused of spying and charged with treason.<\/p>\n