Every journalist in Uzbekistan working for a foreign media outlet will end up in jail sooner or later - just for the temerity of speaking or writing the truth. Needless to say, official charges will have nothing to do with journalism as such. The Uzbek Criminal Code offers a broad assortment of other articles that may be applied.

Here is a story of an Uzbek journalist who spent 4.5 months behind the bars.

The journalist spent 55 days in the detention cell of a regional directorate of the National Security Service. Last August, the man was arrested on charges of illegal crossing of the border. The trial was swift. The defendant was sentenced to imprisonment for freethinking and cooperation with foreign media outlets even though it was never admitted in public.

Umida Niyazova, a human rights activist and journalist arrested this January, interacted with foreign media outlets too. Author of this letter offers some ideas on what may be awaiting her now.

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... It is complete isolation, absence of any news from the family, and uncertain future that are probably the hardest things to bear. The inmate cannot help wondering what the investigation might know, who has been testifying against him or her, how the friends, acquaintances, and relatives are. The prospect of tortures is not half as frightening as the thought that prisoner's relatives may be tortured.

The Tashkent Jail (the one where my colleague Umida Niyazova is imprisoned nowadays) belongs to the Main Directorate of Penitentiaries of the Republic of Uzbekistan. It is its principal assessment and distribution center. Convicts from all over the country are sent here prior to being escorted to other prisons and colonies. The Tashkent Jail is known in the underworld as "liberal". Everything is available: from unscheduled visit to food parcels from the outside. Wardens do not even hesitate to pass down money to inmates, for a commission of course. And not only money. Wardens offer their goods to inmates in cells - vodka, anacha, filled syringes with a dose, newspapers (SPEED-Info), and so on. Even a date with a "nun" may be arranged. Whatever inmate has money to pay for it may even furnish his cell.

Waiting for the trial is not easy either. I was collared for the attempt to cross the border illegally. I couldn't wait to be put in front of the judge because under Article 223-1 of the Criminal Code I could draw either a fine (50 to 100 minimal wages) or 3 to 5 years imprisonment. The suspense was killing me.

Convicts are confined to small dump cells and absolute isolation. Nothing is available - neither visits, nor phone calls, or food parcels. Convicts are permitted one hour a day outside. The prison library... it takes one three months at best to read it all. Inmates use pages of the books as toilet paper which is never available behind the bars. It makes reading as such an ordeal.

Inmates are entitled to newspapers and magazines - in theory. In practice, all they ever get is the newspaper VBG colloquially known as "The Bitch". For a journalist used to always being in contact with somebody and to getting information from the Internet, that's probably the worst imaginable punishment. Moreover, an imprisoned human rights activist or journalist is under special control, and ditto the cell he is in. That's bad because other inmates in the same cell are not permitted the "delicacies" like smokes or intoxicants. This state of affairs enrages criminals who inevitably pin the blame on whoever is the cause of this misfortune. Wardens keep cells like that under permanent control.

What awaits Niyazova

This journalist, too, is facing charges of illegal crossing of the border. Some media outlets reported that she is confined to a cooler. In the meantime, Article 244 of the Code of Penal Procedure points out that solitary confinement is only to be applied on the decision of the prosecutor or ruling of the court to whoever was arrested for grave crimes under parts 4 and 5 of Article 15 of the Criminal Code.

What is Niyazova's lawyer then thinking about? How come he or she is not demanding her transfer to a mass cell? On the other hand, Niyazova may be better off where she is than in a cell with criminals. Some of these women will certainly turn out to be squealers reporting Niyazova's every word to wardens.

According to the Code of Penal Procedure, defense has the right to an unlimited number of meetings with his charge and these meetings are not to be limited in time. "Whenever a suspect or convict is in custody, the defense as the right to meetings without any limitations imposed on their number or duration," to quote Article 53 of the Code of Penal Procedure.

A seasoned lawyer knows to support his charge psychologically, to inform him or her of the bill of indictment and its contents, to keep him or her updated on the family. That's particularly important for Umida. She must know that literally thousands support her and want to see her free.

As for my lawyer, he was quite young and appointed by the National Security Service. We had only one tete-a-tete meeting before the trial. When we found ourselves alone, the lawyer gestured that there were bugs in the room and that we could not therefore talk freely. That was the last I saw him before the trial, despite numerous requests.

It is the suspect that really counts for the Uzbek justice, not what he did or presumably did. Whether or not the suspect has smart relatives is also important because smart relatives will always find a way to reach an agreement with the judge. It is usually lawyers themselves who serve as intermediaries. They take the sum agreed upon from the suspect's family to the judge and thus make sure that the sentence is what was agreed on. Niyazova is probably a different case. The authorities may decide to treat her as a political dissenter, and that makes the task of orchestrating her release doubly difficult.

Niyazova is in the Tashkent Jail now, her case ostensibly handled by the Transport Prosecutor's Office. As a matter of fact, it is men from the National Security Service who are running the investigation. They are only interested in her activities as a journalist and representative of the human rights community. They ask questions about her relations with foreign partners, data transmission channels, methods of communications - and they never hesitate to use threats. I do not doubt that they have already scanned all her correspondence, e-mail and otherwise. These men are particularly interested in whether or not Umida has ever had anything to do with opposition leaders in foreign countries. I also suspect that all Niyazova's friends and acquaintances will be approached and interrogated (the investigation does have her notebooks with their phone numbers).

What Niyazova may be sentenced to?

It depends. I do not really think that the authorities will try to apply any other article apart from Article 223-1 dealing with illegal crossing of the border. It is practically a foregone conclusion in the meantime that shortly before the day of the trial Umida will be taken to a certain office where a handsome and polite official will ask her to "repent in public". In other words, she will be advised to go public and speak up on "her activities, criminal with regard to the Motherland and the president" and "to ask for the president's and the people's forgiveness." All of that will be filmed and stored against the day when it may be used.

The National Security Service is certain to ask Niyazova to cooperate and pledge to submit everything she sends abroad to the NSS itself first. She will be told that the National Security Service in this case will intervene on her behalf and ask the judge to be sympathetic. She will be sentenced to at least a year behind the bars otherwise.

What shall we expect from the trial? There will be no settlement out of court because the attention of the international community is glued to Niyazova and because of the control from the National Security Service. At best, she will be released right in the courtroom for a substantial fine, something between 200 and 400 minimal wages. It is an equivalent of between 2.48 and 4.96 million sums or $1,984 and $3,968. That's how Uzbekistan will demonstrate its liberalism with regard to journalists and human rights activists.

At worst, she will be sentenced to six months imprisonment.

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When I was summoned to the senior warden to be released, he initialled by certificate of release and sneered, "You could work for the BBC now." - "We'll see. I just might," I replied still unable to grasp the idea that I was about to be set free. "You must have liked it here. Be seeing you then!" he said.