Switzerland will still go to any lengths to protect the ultra-rich dictators and mafia who flock there. Mutabar Tadjibaeva – multiple rape victim, survivor of repeated torture and still dogged human rights activist, is wanted for questioning by Geneva Police for the crime of ringing the bell of Gulnata Karimova’s 25 million dollar house and asking to speak to her.
That is absolutely all she did. I know, as I was there and did it too. We both left our visiting cards, took some photos from the streets so the children of Uzbekistan could see where the profits from their slave labour in the cotton fields went, and then we left on the bus, as we came.
Uzbekistan is the World’s sixth most corrupt country according to Transparency International. I doubt one in ten of the houses in Cologny is bought with earned money. This is Gulnara’s 25 million dollar home, with the cranes then building a massive extension at the back.
I can understand that Gulnara does not want people to know she lives at 7 Rue Prevote (both e’s have acutes), Cologny, Geneva. A weird, weird village that also houses Gulanara’s sister Lola and the children of the Presidents of Kazakhstan and Armenia, among others. There are lterally thousands of CCTV cameras. At this time of year none of the homewoners are there, just security guards in Adidas wear. The only noise is the barking of guard dogs. The 4 wheel drive Porsches, Range Rovers and Mercedes G wagons are sat still and cold on the drives.
That a speaker at the FIDH human rights film festival is harassed in this way is bad enough. But Mutabar was also there to give formal depositions in human rights cases to the United Nations. That dictatorships can use the Geneva police to harass dissidents visitng the UN is scarcely healthy.
Switzerland attempted to clean up its image as the repository of illegal cash by adopting anti money-laundering legislation. But that legislation specifically exempts real estate – you can buy your Cologny mansion without having in any way to declare how you got all that cash. The ever corrupt Swiss exempted it because Switzerland makes money from it. Outbreaks of democracy on the streets of Cologny are liable to be bad for property values – hence the interest of the Geneva police, in the world’s best disguised fascist state.
I wonder in I can interest Occupy and the human rights groups in an annual summer camp for activists at Cologny? Let’s give the Geneva police some more difficult field of anti-democratic harassment than a small torture victim.
Barbara – “It is correct they don’t give a reason, but they emphasize that there was no warrant or any such thing. and referring to her as human rights activist sounds rather friendly.”
That is quite glossing over the situation, all she did was call at Gulnara’s compound and she has been asked to account for herself by the police.
Ben Franklin, I strongly believe that human nature is superbly creative, given the right opportunities, so I support giving more power to the voters, along with more free time, better information resources, etc.
The incredible and rapid improvement in Wikipedia and free (GPL) software are two of the things that have helped to convince me of this; both are collaborative enterprises, based around a set of well formulated rules. Contribution is voluntary and self-motivated. Each person contributes that which seems of value in their own opinion, and the rules encourage convergence upon consensus. Evgueni’s description suggests that Swiss direct democracy has a similar structure.
Yes, you get “lazy (non) voters” in any democracy, but there’s no reason to believe that any given individual is stuck like that for life. While they abstain, they do no good, but they do no harm either. If at some point such a person starts to develop an interest in some issue, direct democracy provides a system to accept their contribution.
What I particularly dislike about two party politics is that it creates a sort of “spectator sport” atmosphere, with the voters playing the role of the supporters, cheering on their respective teams, and rejoicing or lamenting the results of elections. It reduces important issues to rivalry and it encourages shallow “personality politics”, individual politicians taking roles like those of sporting heroes. Such stuff is ideal fodder for media sensationalism. But it produces lots of heat and little light.
You might enjoy this discussion from 2011:
http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2011/04/av-referendum-and-nick-clegg/
Evgueni joined in at this point:
http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2011/04/av-referendum-and-nick-clegg/#comment-309370
More excellent contributions from Evgueni here:
http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2011/04/tories-and-clegg-out-manouevre-lib-dems-on-banking/#comment-308580
Ben/Clark,
I remember seeing a George Harrison interview. He said words to the effect “Thats the problem. No matter who you vote for, the Government always gets in.” 🙂
Oops didn’t mean to get drawn in and haven’t got the time to do this properly – apologies all. Craig – indeed why did the Geneva police want to question your friend? Presumably they have a duty to investigate complaints, no matter how facetious they are at face value. There may well be preferential treatment for wealthy individuals, as there is here. Are we fascist here in the UK?
Clark – indeed I agree. Democracy is always local, by its nature. We cannot change that and hence we cannot expect the Swiss to ‘do our democracy for us’. The Uzbeks ultimately must hold Karimovs to account and so on. A couple of things to add to this, one – canton of Geneva is I think the least democratic of the Swiss cantons and this is reflected in the local residents’ “happiness” metric in relation to the other cantons (part of this metric is satisfaction with local government). The other thing is I have no reason to believe that the Swiss media are substantially any more free than ours. It is clear that democracy can be subverted – bias by omission is very effective. So there is lots of room for improvement in Switzerland.
Uzbek – thanks I will follow up. The answer is lack of time…
Cheers,
The Ukrainian.
Barbara:
“Well, Swiss-bashing is very fashionable it seems.”
Well, Swiss-cashing is very traditional though.
“Ben Franklin, I strongly believe that human nature is superbly creative, ”
Clark; I see the same, but I would classify it as ‘potential’. We only use 3-5% of our mental capacity.
The potential is like the mysterious ‘dark matter’ of our Universe. It’s there, but somehow, we can’t presently access it’s power. I believe this is a construct of ‘will’ and desire. If humans could truly harness this internal power, and delegate it’s authority with sagacity and circumspection, no boundaries of the human spirit would be visible.
Hi Ben, i read Clark as saying that the *essential* Nature of Humans is creative. It is another matter then humans have drifted far from their Nature.
Btw can you please clarify what you mean by ” I believe this is a construct of ‘will’ and desire.”
Also, btw, that Swiss joke i posted above i heard from Krishnamurti.
Article in Le Temps gives more information
http://www.letemps.ch/Page/Uuid/eb58a5d0-850e-11e2-9a7c-b82a39145aa8%7C0
@Clark
Late … as usual
In case nobody gave an explanation (which on a thread like this I find unlikely) a ‘convocation’ in French is a formal summons (although if you don’t answer it there’s not a lot that the police can do) and a ‘mandat’ is issued usually by a court … the nearest we come to it in English is ‘warrant’.
Indigo
Thanks, that is important.
I used to deal with this sort of thing all the time when Resident Clerk in the Foreign Office. Such complaints are made frequently in London by diplomatic missions against demonstrators. The Metropolitan Police do NOT try to track down and question people purely on the basis that a foregin mission made a complaint about them. British authorities would view such complaints with scepticism unless backed by actual evidence of illegal activity.
Craig, Switzerland is a police state. Uzbekistan, you know better than us all combined. Thank you for this blog entry and in particular for the punch-line:
“I wonder in I can interest Occupy and the human rights groups in an annual summer camp for activists at Cologny? Let’s give the Geneva police some more difficult field of anti-democratic harassment than a small torture victim.”
As for Petula Clark, well she can always move downtown.
Dedicated to Gulnar, who can forget all her troubles, forget all her cares, and forget Craig Murray and his credentials of truth and fairness:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-oQ5KwRSMU
Ben Franklin:
I’m sure that’s been debunked:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10%25_of_brain_myth
Brains use a lot of energy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_brain#Metabolism
Evolution is economical, and wouldn’t spend excess energy on an organ that was 95% unused. But people do put a lot of their mental capacity into things that are pointless, frivolous or counter-productive. Hell, we’re constantly being encouraged and indoctrinated to do so by the corporate media and the advertising it carries.
Villager at Midnight (I love that !)
“Btw can you please clarify what you mean by ” I believe this is a construct of ‘will’ and desire.”
I will try to condense into a digestible thought.
The human body is a fundamentally lazy edifice. It only performs work that’s required. As the human brain is an organic entity within the body, it follows that it’s operation is also subject to this tendency. We only use a small percentage of our brain’s capacity. This could be due to the decision (will) to leave a surplus of space for other purposes of which we are not aware, or it could be a desire to conserve energy for future unknown needs. Nevertheless, it is underused capacity, and my opinion is that folks who choose to largely relegate their thinking to the medulla with it’s primordial functions, are fiercely undercutting their capacity by willful means and purposeful desire.
Uzbek,
I scanned the links, I was really after something more substantive – research paper(s) establishing whether criminal money is any more or less likely to end up in Swiss banks than in say Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands and other such places that are identified as tax havens. The articles that you provided tell me what I already know – that the Swiss traditionally only drew the line at accepting funds that are linked to activities considered criminal under Swiss law. This has changed recently with new legislation allowing the freezing of funds pending investigation of serious crime allegations abroad. It would be hard to do more without arbitrary justifications that are open to criticism on legal grounds. The articles do not tell me whether the Swiss are doing more or less to tackle the problem than others.
An interesting snippet from Новая Газета that you linked to: “If a corrupt dictator seeks true anonymity, he should create a trust fund in Britain or register a holding company in Delaware (a state in eastern USA)”… “British trusts and Delaware companies offer the beneficiary a level of anonymity that is simply illegal for Swiss banks.”
From the fact of disproportionate amount of the world’s horded cash ending up in Swiss banks it does not follow that the money is mostly criminal. The attraction of Swiss franc in economically turbulent times is strong. Once I came across a Credit Suisse paper that explained this with a diagram charting real value of savings denominated in major world currencies after adjustment for inflation and prevailing interest rates for each currency over a period of more than 100 years. The Swiss franc retained the most value in real terms despite headline savings rate being consistently lower than any other currency. This was demonstrated again post 2008 when sterling lost about a quarter of its value against the Swiss franc. The world’s dictators are not the only ones who realise this.
In the United Kingdom, and indeed it could be claimed ‘The World’, the events of 7/7/2005 is the 2nd defining moment of the first decade of The 21st Century, the first of course being the terrorist attack on the world Trade Center.
It will have repercussions for many decades to come. It should be feared the day has altered the course of British history permanently. The events of the day were chaos which is to say “hidden order” or “the tumult of an act of war”. With whom “the act of war” originated is precisely the object of my questioning. Out of this chaos and five years on, a Coroners inquest, tasked to investigate solely “the terrorist attacks” of the day was to assemble from the pieces a single overriding government narrative. One which should be added matched the political agenda and business interests of many people in positions of power from around the world. This narrative, repeated, echoed, and invoked as gospel near to the cadence of wardrums by news anchors, military advisers, politicians, bureaucrats, and television documentaries, is one fraught with many deceptions, omissions, and a pathological strain of tunnel vision. From this state of affairs, citizens of the nations of the world, have questioned this official narrative for nearly a decade.
To the day of this writing, these questions have remained unanswered. One might explain away the silence with a simple maxim: “a house of cards collapses quite easily.”
To begin to question the events of 7/7 is not for the fainthearted. In fact, it requires the greatest of courage to stare into the horrifying realization and to make the decision to fight upon the side of Truth. At last it will become clear the future is too important to do otherwise.
Once The Truth lived in innocence and men, in order to hide their sins, sentenced it to death. An innocent man was put to death. But The Truth rose from the grave.
A lie does not live forever — it only dies.
Only The Truth is eternal. It shall overcome even death.
The best defense against tyranny at home and abroad is an educated, enlightened, skeptical, courageous and honest British citizenry who debate and debate and debate(Craig Murray) the course of action for the nation. Alas, today the country is deeply in deficit of such men and women. The events of 7/7, nearly ten years later, has led to a deafening government takeover of society. Consequently, the life of the Individual, which is to say you and I, has suffered. The Truth has suffered. If you believe otherwise you are in error for this is as clear as day. There has been much suffering since and there will be much more suffering to come. To truly move forward upon the road of freedom, government must be reduced and pushed back into the proper sphere. It must be made to be an implementation of the will of the people; a government of and by and for the people, with the consent of the governed.
The post-9/11 post-7/7 world must be rejected in all its invasive, lethal, and totalitarian forms. We must reject the takeover of our lives by unaccountable and monolithic government. The balance of power must be restored. Over ten years of a Global War on Terror has only led to the ruination of the Magna Carta upon which the nation rests, The Rule of Common Law. Let my voice be heard by all those whom will listen. The future is too important. I implore all to begin to question what road the nation has been set upon, before it is too late.
Clark; from your link…”.One possible origin is the reserve energy theories by Harvard psychologists William James and Boris Sidis in the 1890s who tested the theory in the accelerated raising of child prodigy William Sidis to effect an adulthood IQ of 250–300; thus William James told audiences that people only meet a fraction of their full mental potential, which is a plausible claim.[5] In 1936, American writer Lowell Thomas summarized this idea (in a foreword to Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People) by adding a falsely precise percentage: “Professor William James of Harvard used to say that the average man develops only ten per cent of his latent mental ability.”[6]
According to a related origin story, the 10% myth most likely arose from a misunderstanding (or misrepresentation) of neurological research in the late 19th century or early 20th century. For example, the functions of many brain regions (especially in the cerebral cortex) are complex enough that the effects of damage are subtle, leading early neurologists to wonder what these regions did.[7] The brain was also discovered to consist mostly of glial cells, which seemed to have very minor functions. Dr. James W. Kalat, author of the textbook Biological Psychology, points out that neuroscientists in the 1930s knew about the large number of “local” neurons in the brain. The misunderstanding of the function of local neurons may have led to the 10% myth.[8] Indeed, it is easy to imagine that the myth propagated simply by a truncation of the statement that “humans use 10% of their brains at any given time.”
Although parts of the brain have broadly understood functions, many mysteries remain about how brain cells (i.e., neurons and glia) work together to produce complex behaviors and disorders. Perhaps the broadest, most mysterious question is how diverse regions of the brain collaborate to form conscious experiences. So far, there is no evidence that there is one site for consciousness, which leads experts to believe that it is truly a collective neural effort. Therefore, as with James’s idea that humans have untapped cognitive potential, it also is fair to say that a large fraction of questions about the brain have not been fully answered.[1]”
How is it stroke victims can re-program through unused nerve pathways to establish motor function? It’s not that the brain is unused…it is not being fully utilized.
I should add, Clark, that if I thought human brains were at maximum capacity, I would lose all hope for humanity.
Ben, i love writing 12:00am.
Let the Midnight Special shine a light on me/us ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYNAF-QcPrE )
I think one problem is our conditioning. Another is thought. Thought is memory/experience. We overuse our brain for ‘thinking’ and analysis. So the past modified nano-marginally by the present becomes the future and we are lost in this deluded cycle of “time” which is memory. Further, there is no psychological evolution so are stuck in time and its repetitive patterns.
If we rid ourselves of will and desire through self-knowledge and abandon our conditioning, we are left with the mind/brain space for insight. Creative living is a respose from there.
As for energy, inattention–the way most of us live–is a wasteful sucking of eery. The flame of attention (choiceness awareness) is energy.
The Le Temps article is behind a paywall. You can “register for free”, but they want name, address, telephone number, date of birth, and the number of spots on your arse. The form’s in French.
Evgueni @11.09- thanks for your sensible comments, which the hardened Swiss bashers on the thread (yes you, Villager)should note.
The Geneva Police are certainly guilty of unwarranted harassment in the case of Ms Tadjibaeva, but such behavior cannot be laid at the door of the Federal Swiss authorities, given that law enforcement is a cantonal responsibility-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantons_of_Switzerland
I believe IQ is a misnomer. IQ should read intellectual quotient which has little to do with INTELLIGENCE as in the INTELLIGENCE OF THE UNIVERSE. Intelligence is a living, pulsating, vital thing. Intellect is just the hard-drive, another organ. My hair is intelligent, so are my toenails and every organ in my body and so on. But intelligence in its wholeness is another thing.
Clark, et voila
Mutabar Tadjibaeva ne s’attendait pas à avoir affaire à la police à Genève, une ville symbole de liberté à ses yeux. Vendredi dernier, la journaliste ouzbèke, qui a survécu à la torture dans les prisons de Tachkent, était invitée par le Festival du film et forum international sur les droits humains (FIFDH) à témoigner de la brutalité du régime d’Islam Karimov.
Dimanche, alors qu’elle s’apprête à quitter la Suisse pour Paris, où elle vit en exil, elle reçoit un appel de la police de Genève, qui la convoque au poste de l’aéroport suite à une plainte déposée par la mission permanente de l’Ouzbékistan, à Genève, représentée par Gulnara Karimova, la fille du président ouzbek. Mutabar Tadjibaeva ne sait pas ce qu’on lui reproche. Ne parlant pas français, elle transmet l’appel à un ami pour tenter de se faire traduire, mais la police refuse d’expliquer à une tierce personne l’objet du litige et ne peut assurer la traduction russe, raconte-t-elle. Alors elle décide de rentrer en France comme prévu. «Je ne savais pas à quoi m’attendre. Si je m’étais rendue à l’aéroport, aurais-je pu être déportée en Ouzbékistan?» s’interroge Mutabar Tadjibaeva, qui a sa propre idée sur les reproches qu’on lui adresse. L’opposante déposait elle-même vendredi une plainte contre les autorités ouzbèkes au Haut-Commissariat aux droits de l’homme. Le lendemain, elle se rend à Cologny, devant ce qu’elle pense être le domicile de Gulnara Karimov.
«Je voulais voir où est passé l’argent volé par le régime aux citoyens ouzbeks», raconte au téléphone Mutabar Tadjibaeva, désormais en lieu sûr. La militante, accompagnée notamment du cinéaste Michael Andersen et de Craig Murray, ancien ambassadeur de Grande-Bretagne à Tachkent (LT du 01.03.2013), demande à voir la princesse ouzbèke et prend des photos de la maison. Refoulés, ils déposent leurs cartes de visite dans la boîte aux lettres de la propriété. Interrogée sur la raison de sa plainte, la mission ouzbèke confirme la visite rendue par les militants à la résidence de Gulnara Karimova, et relate sa propre version des événements de samedi dans un e-mail: «Quand un diplomate de la mission a entrouvert la porte, ces personnes ont tenté d’entrer dans la propriété en filmant à l’aide d’une caméra. […] La mission permanente de l’Ouzbékistan tient à souligner que ces actes représentent une menace de l’espace personnel, et ont été commis dans une propriété habitée par des personnes au bénéfice du statut de diplomates. C’est pourquoi elle a déposé plainte auprès de la police de l’aéroport.»
De son côté, Craig Murray, de retour en Grande-Bretagne, fulmine. «C’est une honte pour la Suisse et Genève, qui héberge de nombreuses organisations de défense des droits de l’homme. Aucun opposant politique ne devrait être importuné par les autorités suisses. La police de Genève doit présenter ses excuses.» Léo Kaneman, directeur du FIFDH, qui a invité l’opposante à Genève, déplore quant à lui le «zèle de la police genevoise».
Les autorités suisses sont-elles tenues de donner suite à une plainte de la mission ouzbèke auprès de l’ONU à l’encontre d’une dissidente politique? «En vertu des accords de siège, la police a l’obligation de donner suite aux plaintes de diplomates accrédités auprès des institutions internationales au même titre que toute autre plainte, répond Eric Grandjean, porte-parole de l’institution. Si vous souhaitez en savoir plus sur ces accords, adressez vos questions à la mission suisse auprès de l’ONU.» Ladite mission n’ayant plus de porte-parole, le DFAE répond à sa place qu’«il revient à la police genevoise d’examiner la recevabilité des plaintes».
La première fois que Mutabar Tadjibaeva s’était rendue à Genève, c’était en 2008 pour y recevoir le Prix Martin Ennals, sorte de Nobel des droits de l’homme. A la surprise générale, les autorités ouzbèkes l’avaient autorisée à sortir du pays. «J’aimerais revenir à Genève et mener cette affaire à sa fin. Je n’ai pas peur d’être arrêtée car je crois encore que Genève est un haut lieu de la démocratie. Mais, avant, j’aimerais demander de l’aide juridique en France», dit la journaliste .
Villager; Fogerty is my man, dude !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E9CmTTInWo
Stay for the harmonica solo.
“hardened Swiss bashers” ! Lighten up Old Mark and grow young. There’s a New World coming. Sorry if i hit a raw nerve!!
And now look Ben 1.00am ! Must be the Swiss cuckoo clock showing its hand! How quickly an hour passes when you’re having fun. Anyway looks like we’re in good company.
Villager
sort of, but my tolerance of O/T prattle is wearing thin
Oh, Now we get moderation…in the wee hours.
Craig, your place and your blood pressure. Happy to invite one’s self out. Sleep in peace
Craig, thanks.
Copied verbatim from mangle.translate.google.com:
—————————
Mutabar Tadjibaeva did not expect to have to deal with the police in Geneva, a city symbol of freedom in his eyes. Last Friday, the Uzbek journalist who survived torture in prison in Tashkent, was invited by the Film Festival and International Forum on Human Rights (FIFDH) to witness the brutal regime of Islam Karimov.
Sunday, as she prepares to leave Switzerland to Paris, where she lives in exile, she receives a call from the Geneva police, who convene at the airport station following a complaint by the Permanent Mission Uzbekistan, in Geneva, represented by Gulnara Karimova, daughter of Uzbek President. Mutabar Tadjibaeva not know the case against him. Do not speak French, it forwards the call to a friend to try to translate, but the police refuse to explain to a third party in dispute and can not provide the Russian translation, she says. So she decided to return to France as planned. “I did not know what to expect. If I had went to the airport, could I be deported to Uzbekistan? “Asks Mutabar Tadjibaeva, which has its own idea of the reproaches addressed to him. The opponent filed Friday itself a complaint against the Uzbek authorities to the High Commissioner for Human Rights. The next day she went to Cologny to what she thinks is the home of Gulnara Karimov.
“I wanted to see what happened to the money stolen by the regime to Uzbek citizens,” says the phone Mutabar Tadjibaeva now in a safe place. Activist, with particular filmmaker Michael Andersen and Craig Murray, former ambassador to Great Britain in Tashkent (LT 01/03/2013), ask to see the princess Uzbek and takes pictures of the house. Repressed, they lay their cards in the mailbox of the property. Asked about the reason for his complaint, Uzbek mission confirms visit by militants at the residence of Gulnara Karimova, and tells his own version of events on Saturday in an email: “When a diplomat mission has opened the door, these people tried to enter the property, filming with a camera. […] The Permanent Mission of Uzbekistan wishes to emphasize that these actions constitute a threat of personal space, and were committed in a property inhabited by people for the benefit of the status of diplomats. That is why she filed a complaint with the police at the airport. ”
On his side, Craig Murray, back in Britain, fuming. “It is a shame for Switzerland and Geneva, which hosts many organizations defending human rights. No political opponent should not be bothered by the Swiss authorities. Geneva police should apologize. “Leo Kaneman, FIFDH director, who invited the opponent to Geneva, meanwhile deplored the” zeal of the Geneva police. ”
The Swiss authorities are required to provide them with a complaint of Uzbek mission to the UN against a political dissident? “By virtue of the headquarters agreements, the police are obliged to respond to complaints of diplomats accredited to international institutions as well as any other complaint meets Eric Grandjean, spokesman of the institution. If you want to know more about these agreements, send questions to the Swiss Mission to the UN. “That mission is no longer the spokesperson, the DFA answers for her that” it is up to the Geneva Police to consider the admissibility of complaints. ”
The first time Mutabar Tadjibaeva had traveled to Geneva, it was to receive the 2008 Martin Ennals Award, a sort of Nobel Prize for human rights. To everyone’s surprise, the Uzbek authorities had allowed to leave the country. “I want to return to Geneva and take the matter to an end. I’m not afraid of being arrested because I still believe that Geneva is a hotbed of democracy. But before, I would like to ask for legal aid in France, “said the journalist.
Just beat me to it, Clark.
Here’s a tidied up version of the Google translation.
I took a few liberties with the phrasing, trying to get the sense of it:
Mutabar Tadjibaeva did not expect to have to deal with the police in Geneva, a city which in her eyes is a symbol of freedom. Last Friday, the Uzbek journalist who survived torture in prison in Tashkent, was invited by the Film Festival and International Forum on Human Rights (FIFDH) to witness the brutal regime of Islam Karimov.
Sunday, as she prepares to leave Switzerland for Paris, where she lives in exile, she receives a call from the Geneva police, who convene at the airport station following a complaint by the Permanent Uzbekistan Mission in Geneva, represented by Gulnara Karimova, daughter of Uzbek President. Mutabar Tadjibaeva not understand the case against her. As she does not speak French, she forwarded the call to a friend to try to translate, but the police refused to explain the dispute to a third party and cannot provide a Russian translation, she says. So she decided to return to France as planned. “I did not know what to expect. If I had gone to the airport, could I be deported to Uzbekistan? “Asks Mutabar Tadjibaeva, which has its own list of grudges against her. She herself filed on Friday a complaint against the Uzbek authorities to the High Commissioner for Human Rights. The next day she went to Cologny to what she believes is the home of Gulnara Karimov.
“I wanted to see what has happened to the money stolen by the regime from Uzbek citizens,” Mutabar Tadjibaeva, who is now in a safe place, says over the phone. The activist, with specialist filmmaker Michael Andersen and Craig Murray, former ambassador to Great Britain in Tashkent (LT 01/03/2013), ask to see the princess Uzbek and take pictures of the house. Rebuffed, they leave their cards in the mailbox of the property. Asked about the reason for their complaint, the Uzbek mission confirmed the visit by militants at the residence of Gulnara Karimova, and gave their version of events on Saturday in an email: “When a diplomat mission has opened the door, these people tried to enter the property, filming with a camera. […] The Permanent Mission of Uzbekistan wishes to emphasize that these actions constitute a threat of personal space, and were committed in a property inhabited by people for the benefit of the status of diplomats. That is why she filed a complaint with the police at the airport. ”
For his part, Craig Murray, back in Britain, is fuming. “It is a shame for Switzerland and Geneva, which hosts many organizations defending human rights. A political dissident should not be bothered by the Swiss authorities. Geneva police should apologize. “Leo Kaneman, FIFDH director, who invited the accused to Geneva, meanwhile deplored the” zeal of the Geneva police. ”
Are the Swiss authorities required to support a complaint by the Uzbek mission to the UN against a political dissident? “By virtue of the headquarters agreements, the police are obliged to respond to complaints of diplomats accredited to international institutions as well as any other complaint says Eric Grandjean, spokesman of the institution. If you want to know more about these agreements, send questions to the Swiss Mission to the UN.” That mission is no longer the spokesperson. The DFA replies on its behalf that” it is up to the Geneva Police to consider the admissibility of complaints.”
The first time Mutabar Tadjibaeva had traveled to Geneva, it was to receive the 2008 Martin Ennals Award, a sort of Nobel Prize for human rights. To everyone’s surprise, the Uzbek authorities had allowed her to leave the country. “I want to return to Geneva and bring the matter to a conclusion. I’m not afraid of being arrested because I still believe that Geneva is a hotbed of democracy. But before I go, I would like to ask for legal aid in France,”says journalist