Government Closes Down Western Aid Agency

On hearsay evidence, CAFE convicted of ‘illegal religious activities.’

Compass Direct News (7/29/06) – Uzbekistan has closed down another Western-funded aid agency, ordering the complete liquidation of the Central Asian Free Exchange (CAFE) and ouster of its foreign staff.

A final appellate court judgment against CAFE was handed down by Tashkent courts on July 11, less than four months after a rash of local court cases were launched against branch CAFE offices in six cities across Uzbekistan .

Like 20 other humanitarian groups closed down on scant hearsay evidence within the past two years by the authoritarian Central Asian state, CAFE was charged with a list of various procedural laws it had allegedly violated.

But the most serious accusation against CAFE was that the nonprofit group was doing covert missionary work among Uzbekistan ’s predominantly Muslim citizens.

Due to “conditions in Uzbekistan ,” the lengthy verdict claimed, “missionary activity will have fatal consequences.”

‘Completely Bogus’

But according to the agency’s CEO James Hall, the religious proselytizing charges were “just an excuse” for Uzbek authorities to oust foreigners who were not under their control.

“All accusations about religion in our court action were completely bogus,” Hall told Compass. “The local population does not need the government stirring up religious issues between Muslims and Christians, or bringing foreigners to court on bogus charges. Personally, I think this is what destabilizes the population. Why not instead help Christians and Muslims learn to live together?”

In the wake of the Andijan riots of May 2005, Uzbek President Islam Karimov had accused foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) of trying to incite a revolution in Uzbekistan .

Hall confirmed that all CAFE’s foreign employees were Christians. But as a matter of policy, he said, the group had consistently adhered to the code of conduct of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, rendering assistance irrespective of religious or political creed.

According to Hall, no physical evidence was presented in court to document the proselytizing charges. “It was only what I would call hearsay evidence, with no real substance behind it,” he said.

Petty Accusations

Starting in early April, a total of six court cases were opened against branch CAFE offices. In the first one, in Gulistan, the organization was acquitted on charges over minor procedural issues.

A week later, similar charges were filed against the Nukus office, which was accused of using an unregistered logo and also failing to obtain an Internet license or inform authorities of its new director.

“We lost that case in a decision that was clearly made before the trial began,” Hall noted, “since the judgment handed out at the end of the hearing had already been translated.”

The next case, opened in Andijan on May 11, was a mixture of procedural issues and a previous charge of proselytizing dating back to 2003. “If this [proselytizing charge] was true, one wonders why they waited so long to charge us,” Hall commented.

Although the case was dropped at the last minute, it was re-filed in June in a different court. That judge threw out the proselytizing charge, but then ruled against the Andijan CAFE office for “not having enough founders” since its registration, which dated back to 1996.

Coerced Witnesses

In mid-May, twin cases were opened against the Ferghana and Kokand offices, based on the “evidence” of letters written by residents of Komi Choli, a village near Kokand . The letters accused CAFE staff members of paying people to become Christians and thus “destabilizing the country.”

The Ferghana court forced the trial to start on the spot at the pre-trial hearing, having summoned villagers as witnesses to accuse CAFE’s director in Ferghana of coming to their village every week for the past year and giving them money to convert to Christianity. Under questioning, however, none of the villagers could identify the director’s nationality.

“He is a Scottish fellow with a distinct accent,” Hall said, “and one of the first questions Uzbeks ask when they meet you is where you are from. So it was pretty telling in court that these folks had never met our director.” But after a three-day trial, the court deliberated for a few minutes and ruled against CAFE.

A local human rights activist who later visited the village concluded that the witnesses had been coerced to give false testimony against CAFE. He told EurasiaNet.org, a website devoted to Central Asian current events, that he was convinced the accusations were “artificial, false and completely unjust.”

A trial held a few days later in Kokand rubber-stamped the same verdict on identical charges in a two-hour hearing. The court had changed the hearing to an earlier day, preventing the CAFE lawyer from attending.

In a sixth case, in Samarkhand, CAFE was accused of teaching without a license, despite the fact that all its teachers taught at government institutions and no such regulation had ever been required of any NGO in the past 15 years.

“The Ministry of Justice representative made a one-minute accusation,” Hall recalled, “and then slept during the one-hour trial. We still lost.”

In early June, reports suddenly surfaced on government websites hinting that the Tashkent headquarters of CAFE faced legal charges. After CAFE went to court to confirm if this was true, it was served a court summons on June 12. Although Uzbek laws guarantee defendants 10 days to prepare their defense, CAFE was ordered to appear on June 14.

With no lawyer willing to take on a case with a pre-determined verdict hovering over it, human rights activist Marat Zakhidov served as public defender for the Tashkent trial.

But three hours into the second day of hearings, the judge issued her verdict, ordering the liquidation of CAFE in Uzbekistan .

Citing CAFE’s “numerous violations” of various procedural laws, the judge stressed five times in the written June 15 decision that the organization’s foreign employees had been guilty of trying to “involve the local population” with the Christian religion.

Although CAFE was allowed to file an appeal within 20 days, the appellate court ruled against it on July 11, forcing the organization to shut down its entire operation.

Hall said one last possible Supreme Court appeal would be “pointless,” since all foreign CAFE staff members had shut down their projects and were in the process of leaving the country. “Winning an appeal in the current climate looks unrealistic,” Hall admitted.

Development Projects Halted

The Tashkent verdict against CAFE shut down the extensive development projects of one of the first and largest NGOs operating in Uzbekistan since it declared independence in 1991.

In addition to its 100 expatriate staff from 20 nations, CAFE had 300 local employees working in 10 cities across Uzbekistan .

CAFE Library

CAFE English library

CAFE’s development projects for assistance in agriculture, business, computers, community health, language-learning, libraries and orphanages were based in Andijan, Ferghana, Gulistan, Karshi, Kokand , Namangan , Navoi, Nukus, Samarkhand and Tashkent .

Over the past 15 years, CAFE has invested more than $25 million in humanitarian aid and technical assistance to the people of Uzbekistan .

Among some 70 foreign NGOs registered in Uzbekistan , CAFE was one of a dozen Christian-based groups.

Another U.S.-based NGO, Global Involvement Through Education, was ordered closed on May 31, based on a Justice Ministry declaration that the group was “conducting missionary activity among young people and other unspecified violations.”

According to a June 1 report in the Japanese Mainichi Newspaper, four English teachers from the education aid group were fined in April for alleged efforts to convert students to “a religion of Protestant character.”

Uzbekistan has become a black hole for independent news reporting since the end of last year.

After Forum 18 reporter Igor Rotar was arrested and deported in August 2005 for his coverage of religious freedom violations, correspondents for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Internews and the Institute for War & Peace Reporting were one after another refused press credentials and forced out of the country. The British Broadcasting Corporation also withdrew its staff.