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Translated from Russian by Tanlov members in refuge in Turkey and the United States

U. Khaknazarov - About the alternative draft of Uzbekistan constitution
01:17 01.04.2003 [01:17 am Moscow time on April 1, 2003]

Usman Khaknazarov, Political analyst

In one of the previous articles, I reported that [I] prepared the alternative draft of the constitution of Uzbekistan. This message I made in response to accusations that I am, supposedly, occupied only with uncovering [human rights abuses and constitutional violations], that I am not making any proposals. After that, the readers, who made those accusations, immediately came up with a new accusation. Since Khaknazarov [author of this article] composed the draft of the constitution, since he [Khaknazarov] has proposals, that means he definitely aims to become a President [of Uzbekistan]. Actually, to aim to become a president is not a sin, if you take into account, that hangmen, vandals, vicious bribe takers [aim to become presidents], then for honest and brave people to aim to presidential power is an obligation. Otherwise, our destiny will be again determined by hangmen, vandals and bribe takers. However, I do not aim to the position of the president of Uzbekistan against the forecasts of some readers, this article, devoted to the alternative draft of the constitution of Uzbekistan, serves as an explanation and evidence thereof.

Actually, the publication of this article is premature, because it talks about those tasks which have to be accomplished after the departure of Karimov [President of Uzbekistan] and his gang from political power, after the accomplishment of the first priority task. Perhaps, many would agree that today for the citizens of Uzbekistan, wanting to live freely, the first priority task, is the departure of the current hyenas [Karimov’s regime] from power. However, even today we need to clearly think through actions which we should realize after the dismissal of the current devilish regime of [President] Islam Karimov in Uzbekistan. [However, even today we need to clearly think through actions] so that after the dismissal of the regime, rogues and false patriots, who today, during the reign of hangman [President] Karimov, are not visible or heard, could not come to power.

Uzbeks have a proverb ”After the enemy runs away, many brave people appear.” The history shows that all important good deeds, which require bravery and courage, are accomplished by honest and gallant people, patriots of the country, but however strange, the rogues and villains come to power. Even today [we] have to devise measures for non admittance of rogues, rascals and bastards to power [in Uzbekistan]. First that needs to be done after the departure of Karimov’s gang from power is the adoption of the new constitution which would legalize the base of democracy in Uzbekistan, would not allow the authorities [of Uzbekistan] to solely decide the destiny of the people, driven by its [authorities’] cupid and subjective goals, driven by its [authorities’] personal ambitions and whims.

While thinking about the alternative draft of the constitution, I first wanted to present to the readers the text of the draft [of the constituion], however, later, changed my mind; the text of the draft is very long. I think that the straight reading of the text would be tiresome for the readers, therefore I decided to present for your review the article about the contents of that draft. However, if in the future, the majority of the readers will demand [that I] present the actual text of the draft, then I will gladly present the entire text of the draft. Meanwhile, let’s confine ourselves with the short article.

About the alternative draft of the constitution of Uzbekistan

Any draft of any constitution is prepared to legalize something so that it would later become a legalized norm of life of person, society and the state. Therefore, everything that is written in the alternative draft of the constitution is also written to legalize them [laws of constitution]. Coming from this, it is better to state the contents of the draft not in the form of restatement, but in the form of descriptions of the proposals and the goals or tasks which need to be perpetuated into life after the departure of Karimov and his government from power [in Uzbekistan].

[I] propose that the role, position and power of the people of the Republic [of Uzbekistan] be legalized in the constitution of Uzbekistan. It is necessary to clearly write that all power in Uzbekistan belongs to the people of Uzbekistan. However, the simple writing of these words would be a bare declaration, if not stated specifically which powers belong to the people. So that the power of the people of the country would not be a simple preamble, it is necessary to legalize that the Republic of Uzbekistan, as a separate state, is instituted by the people themselves for the more effective management of itself.

The state is an institution, the biggest institution. As it is known, any institution is created for achievement of some goals, execution of some tasks. Therefore, the Republic of Uzbekistan has to be instituted for specific purposes, complete realization of its powers by the people, better self management, and providing of unalienable rights of every person to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, freedom from violence and cruelty etc.

Every citizen of Uzbekistan has a right to ask: “What was the Republic of Uzbekistan created for?” Indeed, why was the state of Uzbekistan created? So as to imprison people for their beliefs, to torture them [people], to close markets, to force people to comply to a handful of thieves, called the government of Uzbekistan? Was the Republic of Uzbekistan created for the sake of today’s lawlessness, arbitrariness, injustice, corruption and power of clans? In the current constitution of the country [Uzbekistan] there is no answer to these questions, and that is a kind of green light to affirmative answer to the above listed questions.

We talked about the power of the people in Uzbekistan. So that the people would have not the declared but the real power, it is necessary to legalize, in a constitutional procedure, that all legislative authority [be] secured in the hands of the people of Uzbekistan. [We] need to legalize that the people, on their behalf, can transfer some of their legislative powers to the parliament (e.g. their representatives) and the Supreme Court of the country [Uzbekistan]. In other words, the parliament and the Supreme [Court] receive some powers from the people, not people [receive powers] from [Supreme] Court and Parliament, e.g. from its representatives in the legislative branch. [We] need to legalize that the people realize their legislative powers through free popular elections.

It is necessary to legalize, in constitutional manner, that by free election the people of Uzbekistan realize the following powers: - adoption of the constitution of the country [Uzbekistan] and also amendments and alterations to it [the constitution]; - elections of the deputies into the parliament of the country [Uzbekistan]; - election of the Chair of the Supreme Court of the Republic [of Uzbekistan], also the judges in offices; - election of the President of Uzbekistan; - election of the heads of administrations of the regions and districts;

- premature dismissal of the parliament of the country [Uzbekistan] or one of its chambers; - premature cessation of the powers of the Chair of the Supreme Court of the Republic [of Uzbekistan] and also the judges in offices; - premature cessation of the powers of the President of Uzbekistan; - premature cessation of the powers of the heads of administrative regions and districts;

The institution of the state language, its alteration and reformation; - the institution of the state graphics, its alteration and reformation; - expansion of the territory of the state [of Uzbekistan] into other states by military means; - the permission of the stay on the territory of the state [of Uzbekistan] of military contingents and the Armies of other states; - the creation of territorially wholesome state [of Uzbekistan] by unification of the state [of Uzbekistan] with other states; - the creation, with other states, of political, military or economic unions, alliances or commonwealths or departure from them; - the alteration of internal administrative- territorial structure of the state [of Uzbekistan]; - identification of the territory for the capital of the Republic of Uzbekistan and its alteration or expansion; - the limitation of the rights of citizens on peaceful assembly, marches or demonstration for expression of disagreement to certain matters;

[I] think that the above listed questions have to be decided by the people themselves, not by the parliament, moreover, not by the government or by the president alone. The people should realize these powers by means of free election. Their remaining powers, the people transfer to the parliament and the Supreme Court of the country [Uzbekistan].

1) The people of Uzbekistan transfer to the parliament the following of their powers:
- adoption of laws, not in disagreement with the constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan; - the institution of the same tax [system], tolls, excise duties on the entire territory of the Republic of Uzbekistan, which are necessary for the solution of the state matters; - institution of the structure of executive power; establishment of the structure of judicial power; declaration of the military situation on the entire or separate territory of the Republic [of Uzbekistan]; creation and maintenance of the Army [of Uzbekistan]; creation of Navy [of Uzbekistan] and its maintenance; creation of armed divisions for providing internal stability; regulation of the use of the wealth of the Republic [of Uzbekistan]; establishment of the structures of the revenue and expense parts of the State budget of the Republic [of Uzbekistan]; - establishment of the election schedule of the President of the Republic [of Uzbekistan], the Chair of the Supreme Court, the judges in offices, the heads of administrations of regions and districts; - initiation and establishment of the terms of free voting for premature cessation of the powers of the President of the Republic [of Uzbekistan] and the Chair of Supreme Court; - elections of the Minister of Internal Affairs [police]; - elections of the Minister of Defense;

2) All other powers are transferred to the Supreme Court of the Republic [of Uzbekistan]. The Supreme Court of the country [Uzbekistan] receives the following powers from the people of Uzbekistan
- the execution of a verdict for any charge in violation of the constitution and the laws of the Republic [of Uzbekistan]; review of appeals against verdicts, charged by its subordinate special and regional courts and execution of the repeated verdicts; realization of control of legality of the laws, legislated by the parliament, president’s acts, suspension of their actions in case of conflict with the constitution, control of legality of the relations between legislative and executive powers of the Republic [of Uzbekistan] and conclusion of decisions about them; initiation of amendments and additions to the constitution; realization of guidance over all its subordinate courts, coordination of their activity and introduction of proposals to the parliament in the matters of institution of new courts; initiation and establishment of terms of free elections for early cessation of powers of the President [of Uzbekistan] and early dismissal of the parliament of the Republic [of Uzbekistan]. - executive power (president of the country [Uzbekistan]) receives its authority from the parliament of the country [Uzbekistan].

The highest representative of executive power of the state is the president of the state and [the president] is the head of only the state, not the head of the government as is the case now. He [the president] does not have the right to initiate the early dismissal of the parliament, or to initiate the early cessation of the authority of the chair of the Supreme Court of the Republic [of Uzbekistan], while the parliament and the Supreme Court have the right to initiate early cessation of the authority of the president [of Uzbekistan]. This is needed so that the president of the country [Uzbekistan], irrespective of [personal] character (dictator or democrat), would be dependent on the parliament and the [Supreme] Court in the state. Otherwise, in our Uzbekistan, even the very best democrat on the post of the president can, in a very short time, become the same vandal as Islam Karimov. It is not said in vain that absolute power perverts a person. Absolute power is not able to pervert only God.

As the head of state, the president has the right to assign someone only on one power ministry - the National Security Service, however, only with the consent of the parliament of the state. The president of the country [Uzbekistan] has to report to the parliament of the country twice each year, the parliament officially accepts or declines the report of the president of the country. In addition, the president [of Uzbekistan] has the following authority:

- making international agreements with the consent of the parliament [of Uzbekistan]; - assignment of ambassadors and other accredited representatives of the Republic [of Uzbekistan] in other states with the consent of the parliament; assignment on all executive powers with the consent of the parliament on a condition of abiding the proportion of the number of representatives of political parties in the parliament; - institution of powers on all officials of the executive branch; to convene urgently the session of the parliament or one of its chambers; admission of ambassadors and accredited representatives of other states; pardoning and postponement of execution of verdicts for crimes.

Authorities of the President [of Uzbekistan] are limited to this. As written above, the Parliament or the Supreme Court of the Republic [of Uzbekistan] can initiate early cessation of the authority of the president of the country, if they deem, that the president exceeds the authority, violates laws of the state or unsatisfactorily executes the functions. Using this opportunity, I want to say that I am for the maximal limitation of the powers of the president in Uzbekistan, so that the office of the president would be completely dependent on the parliament and [the Supreme] Court. Therefore, the accusations against me that I am striving to occupy the office of Islam Karimov [incumbent president of Uzbekistan] are groundless. A person who is aiming to become a President, never proposes to curtail the powers of the President, make him [the President] dependent on the parliament or the [Supreme] Court in the country.

I listed my offers on all three branches of power: legislative, judicial and executive. And I think that all three of them [branches of power] have to be strongly limited and dependent on each other. While in Uzbekistan, where people learn dictatorship from childhood, in the family, from their parents, who limit the rights of their child, the power of the President has to be especially limited, it has to be strongly dependent on the parliament and [the Supreme] Court. Similarly, the powers of the chairs of the Parliament and the Supreme Court have to be dependent and limited.

In addition, the personal rights in Uzbekistan, which are stated in the current constitution of Uzbekistan have to be legalized without any conditions. [We] have to legalize in constitutional order that:

- no citizen can be bereaved of life, liberty or property without legal judicial investigation; - no personal property can be taken away from the owner into the state ownership; - no one, including the state, has a right to destroy people’s housing without the consent of the owner of the housing; - state programs and construction projects can not serve as grounds for the destruction of people’s housing; - no one in criminal investigation can be forced to testify against one’s own self; - the Ministry of Internal Affairs [police], National Security Service or prosecutor’s office have no right to question a suspect or a defendant in the absence of an attorney, whom the suspect or the defendant hired voluntarily on one’s own decision; - the Ministry of Internal Affairs [police], National Security Service or prosecutor’s office have no right to question a suspect or a defendant in the absence of less than two members of the family of the suspect or the defendant; - no one can be tried twice for the same crime; - the Ministry of Internal Affairs [police], National Security Service or prosecutor’s office have no right to search the housing or any other property of a person in the absence of the attorney whom that person hired voluntarily on one’s own decision; - the Ministry of Internal Affairs [police], National Security Service or prosecutor’s office have no right to search the housing or any other property of a person in the absence of less than two family members of that person;

These moments need to be indicated because during twelve years of Independence of Islam Karimov, we understood what represents the investigation of Ministry of Internal Affairs [police], National Security Service or prosecutor’s office without participation of attorneys, relatives of the suspect or defendant. We know who are represented as witnesses during questioning or search in Uzbekistan. In almost 99% of the cases it is posbons, informers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs [police], hired on the roles of witnesses.

In addition, we have to legalize our right to express peaceful protest against the state, government, parliament, court. Therefore, [we] have to write with black on white that: - no state institution has a right to ban or suspend peaceful marches, demonstrations or assemblies, conducted for the purposes of expressing protest to certain matters; - no proposals in regard to maintenance of stability in the country [Uzbekistan] can serve as the basis for a ban or suspension of peaceful marches, demonstrations or assemblies, conducted for the purposes of expressing protest to certain matters; - no state institution has a right to ban conducting peaceful marches, demonstrations or protests, assemblies on the streets; - no state institution has a right to force conducting peaceful marches, demonstrations or protests, assemblies indoors [instead of outdoors];

We have to ban, in a legal way any intervention of the state into our personal lives, control of our beliefs, and interests. Therefore, it is necessary to legalize in constitutional order that: - no one has a right to force people to study reports of the President [of Uzbekistan], chair of the Parliament or chair of the Supreme Court of the state, or force to follow them [reports]; - no one has a right to force people to believe any religion, ideology, or doctrine; - no one, including the state, has the right to persecute or punish people for following any religion, ideology or doctrine; - no one, including the state, has a right to persecute or punish people for spreading any religion, doctrine, or ideology, except fascist ideology.

I stopped on the main theses of alternative draft of the constitution prepared by me [author of the article]. [I] think that the matters of division of the branches of power, the matters of personal rights are the most actual today. [I] could have stopped on other details of this draft [of the constituion], for example, on division of power between heads of administrations of the regions and the parliament representatives from the regions. However, [I] think, that it is a secondary matter to the matter of division of power on a statewide scale, and matters of personal rights. [I] would like to note that everything that I wrote in this article are my [author’s] proposals. Someone may like them, while others may not. If you have any comments, then send them [to the author to www.centrasia.ru], I would be glad: together we will complement each other. [I] must say again that this article is just a short description of the main theses of the alternative draft of the constitution prepared by me. [I] repeat that, if necessary, [I] can present to your attention the complete text of this draft.

In conclusion

The dictatorial regime of Karimov definitely has to be dismissed. The departure of Karimov’s gang from power is the dream of many citizens of Uzbekistan. When dreams come true, people often yield to euphoria. And as [I] already said above, rogues and villains, who take power to their hands, craftily use this. Therefore, I repeat that even today, we have to think throughly all actions, which need to be realized after the dismissal of the dictatorship in Uzbekistan, so that we, having dismissed one stubborn khan [king], would not encounter another stubborn khan [king]. After the dismissal of dictatorship in Uzbekistan, we have to demand specifically the adoption of another constitution, more democratic, than the current constitution. By that we would legalize our freedom and limit the freedom of our governors.

However, as I noted in the beginning of the article, all that can be done only after the dismissal of Karimov’s gang from power. Unfortunately, for the time being, Karimov and his hyenas are in power. It means that to this day, the first priority task is the dismissal of the dictatorial regime of Islam Karimov. How to do this? This question concerns many [people] in Uzbekistan. I have my proposals on that matter, and in the near future I will present them to your review. However, [I] would like for others to give answers to that question, not Khaknazarov [author of this article] alone. I think that to expect the answer from one person is simply living on [my] account. I am also an ordinary person, like you, and we have the same capabilities. Therefore, do present your solutions to this burning problem - the liquidation of dictatorship and despotism in Uzbekistan. Dear readers, what do you propose [to do] to dismiss this gang of hangmen and despots from power in Uzbekistan?

Source- CentrAsia.