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Uzbek Police Officers Charged With Torturing Man Who Later Died


Relatives filmed the man's condition in the hospital, where he was in a coma with extensive bruising on his arms and legs and had a tube in his mouth.
Relatives filmed the man's condition in the hospital, where he was in a coma with extensive bruising on his arms and legs and had a tube in his mouth.

Three Uzbek police officers have been arrested and charged with illegally detaining and torturing a man who then died in hospital, the Prosecutor-General's Office has said.

State prosecutors said on June 13 that the police officers in the eastern city of Andijon detained a local man in May and tortured him.

Prosecutors said the man, identified as A. Abdukarimov, was taken to hospital and died on June 11.

Prosecutors added that Abdukarimov's relatives filmed his condition in hospital, where he was in a coma with extensive bruising on his arms and legs and had a tube in his mouth.

The police officers were arrested on June 1 and the case was being investigated, prosecutors said.

It was unclear on what grounds Abdukarimov was arrested.

Last month, a United Nations review of Uzbekistan's human rights record expressed concerns about persistent torture in detention centers and limits on basic freedoms, according to Human Rights Watch.

President Shavkat Mirziyoev has taken steps to implement reforms since coming to power in 2016. But rights watchdogs have expressed concerns about conditions in Uzbekistan, where rights abuses had been widespread under his predecessor, Islam Karimov.

With reporting by Reuters
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