Dauletmurat Tazhimuratov in the defendants' cage on the last day of his trial on charges related to the July 2022 protests in Nukus, the main city in Karakalpakstan, at a court in Bukhara, Uzbekistan on January 31, 2023.
(Berlin, October 1, 2026) – Uzbek officials should immediately ensure the safety and well-being of an imprisoned Karakalpak blogger and lawyer, Dauletmurat Tazhimuratov, and secure his release, Human Rights Watch said today. Since his conviction and transfer to prison in 2023, prison officials and other prisoners have apparently beaten and subjected Tazhimuratov to other humiliations repeatedly and with impunity.
“The torture and humiliation of Dauletmurat Tazhimuratov needs to stop,” said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Tazhimuratov shouldn’t have been imprisoned in the first place, but until he is released, Uzbek officials should ensure that he is not subjected to further ill-treatment or torture.”
In a letter addressed to the United Nations that was smuggled out of prison in September 2026, a copy of which Human Rights Watch has seen, Tazhimuratov describes inhumane prison conditions and beatings by prison officials. “[T]here are 8 of us in a 4x5 meter cell…” Tazhimuratov wrote. “…60 days have passed since I saw the bathhouse, I wash in the toilet.”
In his letter, he says that on July 8, five prison officials beat him, dragged him on the ground, and ordered him “say you are Uzbek.” He notes that for a week he passed blood when he went to the bathroom. Tazhimuratov wrote that he was beaten again on September 9 by two men at a prison official’s behest.
Tazhimuratov is a blogger and lawyer from Karakalpakstan, an autonomous republic in northern Uzbekistan. In January 2023, he was convicted for his alleged role in anti-government protests in Karakalpakstan in July 2022 and given a 16-year prison
