Europe and Central Asia Summary of Amnesty International’s Concerns in the Region, January-June 2007 99 The law was due to come into force 90 days following its official publication. Rustam Muminov (update to AI Indexes: EUR 004/001/2007, EUR 001/001/2007) The aim of the amendments, as set out by the committee of the State Duma (Russia’s lower house of parliament) that had proposed them, was to demarcate the office’s different functions. The office of the Prosecutor has a dual role, being responsible both for the investigation and prosecution of serious crimes, and the supervision of the legality of actions of state officials. The amendments to the law separate out the supervisory function of ensuring that law enforcement officials observe the law, from the function of preliminary investigation of crimes. The Investigation Committee would take responsibility for the preliminary investigation of crimes. Uzbek media reported that Rustam Muminov was convicted in Uzbekistan in March and sentenced to over five years’ imprisonment, apparently in connection with alleged membership of Hizb-ut-Tahrir. In May the head of the detention centre for foreigners in Moscow, where Rustam Muminov had been held prior to his deportation to Uzbekistan, was found guilty of exceeding official powers when he allowed the deportation to go ahead. It remained to be seen whether these changes to the structure of the Russian office of the prosecutor would adequately address the systematic weaknesses of its role in investigating human rights violations. For example, the dual role of the office of the prosecutor has meant that investigations into allegations of torture by police investigators have been carried out by one and the same prosecutor’s office that was responsible for leading the police investigation, during which the alleged torture took place. Such a system failed to meet the necessary requirements of independence and impartiality. Dilshod Kurbanov, a citizen of Uzbekistan who has lived in the Russian Federation since 2003, was detained on 30 May in the Tula Region and was taken to the Police Department for the Fight Against Organized Crime. At the end of the period under review he was being held in a pre-trial detention centre in Tula Region. He had recently applied for recognition as a refugee to the UNHCR. The Russian authorities claimed he was wanted by the Uzbekistani authorities for alleged membership in the banned movement Hizb-ut-Tahrir. AI considered that Dilshod Kurbanov would be at high risk of torture and other serious human rights violations, should he be forcibly returned to Uzbekistan. Concerns relating to refoulement to Uzbekistan Thirteen Uzbeks in Ivanovo (update to AI Indexes: EUR 001/007/2006, EUR 01/001/2006) On 5 March 13 Uzbekistani nationals were released from detention in Ivanovo, after court rulings that the period during which they could be held in pre-trial detention had expired. All men were registered as asylumseekers in Russia. Amnesty International Feared refoulements to Uzbekistan arising during period under review Dilshod Kurbanov Mukhamadsolikh Abutov Mukhamadsolikh Abutov's house in Uzbekistan was searched in January. The police took away religious literature in order to check it for “extremist content”. According to Mukhamasolikh Abutov, the same literature had been confiscated before but a court in Uzbekistan had ruled that there was no reason to classify the texts as “extremist". However, Mukhamadsolikh Abutov had been imprisoned in Uzbekistan in the 1990s on what he claims were fabricated charges. Therefore, fearing he AI Index: EUR 01/010/2007