811. On 5 June 2003, the Special Rapporteur sent an urgent appeal, jointly with the Special Rapporteur on the question of torture, the Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the Special Representative on human rights defenders, regarding Ruslan Sharipov, an Uzbek human rights activist and independent journalist, who was allegedly arrested together with two of his colleagues, Oleg Sarapulov and Azamat Mamankulov. According to the information received, on 26 May 2003, Ruslan Sharipov was allegedly arrested and charged under article 120 of the criminal code with having committed homosexual acts. He is reportedly being detained at Mirzo-Ulugbek District Police Department of Tashkent city. The police are reportedly further inquiring into allegations that he had sex with two male minors for money. […]

819. On 1 October 2003, the Special Rapporteur sent an urgent appeal jointly with the Special Rapporteur on the question of torture and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on human rights defenders regarding Ruslan Sharipov, a human rights activist and journalist. According to new information recently received, Ruslan Sharipov was found guilty on 13 August 2003 under articles 120 (homosexuality), 127 (inciting minors to anti-social behaviour) and 128 (sexual relations with a minor) of the Uzbek criminal code, despite the fact that forensic medical tests conducted after his arrest allegedly found no evidence that he had had sexual relations with minors. He was reportedly sentenced to five years and a half in prison. It is reported that in a statement written from prison on 5 September 2003 and addressed to the United Nations Secretary-General, Ruslan Sharipov claimed he had been subjected to torture and threats while in  detention. At  an appeal hearing which took place on  25 September 2003, and during which his sentence was reduced to four years on appeal after charges under article 127 were dropped, Ruslan Sharipov’s face was reportedly injured and his eyeglasses were broken. ^[113]

Link to full text of the report: Report-SR Freedom of Expression-summary cases-2004-eng