Law enforcement officers who were injured in the protests in Karakalpakstan and are currently being treated at the Central Military Clinical Hospital of the Ministry of Defense answered the questions of reporters.
According to official data, 4 of the 18 people who died in the riots on July 1-2 were military personnel. 243 people were injured and referred to hospitals, 93 of them were law enforcement officers.
Nodirjon Kholdarov, senior director of the Traumatology Department of the military hospital, said that on July 3-4, more than 20 servicemen with various injuries were brought to Tashkent from the city of Nukus.
“Necessary surgeries have been performed, and now the patients are undergoing treatments. Their condition is stable. We have patients who were injured by firearms, stones, iron objects and various cutting and scraping objects. But after the indicated medical procedures, their condition has improved and they are continuing the treatments. We will get them back on their feet soon, and they will continue their service,” he said.
Each of the soldiers being treated at the hospital is in a different condition, they were at different points of the riots.
“They took our clothes off and then beat us”
Abbas Namazov, National Guard personnel, Capt.
“When we went to disperse the people, they came out from both sides and started throwing stones at us. They cursed us and shouted: “Leave, don’t interfere.” We tried to repel them as much as we could.
On the way, I tripped over something and fell down. I tried to stand up, but suddenly they pulled me into the crowd.
First, they removed our clothes and then beat us. When I got hit on the head with a big stone, I lost consciousness, and when I came to myself, they were still kicking me.
They were talking about independence and such stuff. I could tell by the smell and their behavior that they were drunk.
I didn’t have a firearm, we weren’t armed. We had only a shield and a helmet for protection, that’s how we were armed.
I was covered in blood all over.
They let me go, saying, “He got what he deserved”, but the crowd pulled me again and continued to beat.”
“They shot me in the leg with a hunting gun”
Military serviceman, who asked to remain anonymous:
“They didn’t know what they were doing; they were just following commands blindly. We figured out that five or six people were leading them there, wearing masks and glasses. We were able to disperse the people first, but after their leaders told them what to do, they kept coming toward us.
“They don’t have the right to shoot, they can’t shoot, they only have a club, don’t be afraid”, those leading them said. Then, when they saw that we didn’t shoot, they marched with confidence.
More rioters came out from inside the houses, and in the meantime, they shot me in the leg with a hunting gun, behind the thigh.
Even though we said that we came for peace, they drove us away saying, “Uzbeks, leave.” We didn’t know that the people would run a riot this way, there were only 80-90 people in our group.
“We were not allowed to use force against them”
Muzaffar Eshjanov, National Guard Sergeant
“When we were moving to the military unit with the APC-80, a group of people – about 300-400 local residents – came blocking our way. We stopped the APC-80 in order not to harm them. They told us to surrender and get out of the APC quickly, but we did not follow their order.
Then we asked our captains for permission to fire a warning shot, and after they permitted us, we fired a warning shot into the air to quell the unrest. We were not allowed to use weapons against the protesters.
But despite our firing a warning shot, the protesters threw various objects at us, used force and broke open the hatch of the armored personnel carrier with iron pieces.
Then we got out of the APC, I was sitting holding the hatch and pulling it. The protesters broke it open and suddenly hit me on the head with a piece of iron. At that moment I got a head injury. Demonstrators took each of us to separate places and began to beat us severely.
I serve in Khiva. When we were mobilized to Nukus, I didn’t think that there are people who could behave like this among our neighbors. I still don’t believe that the Karakalpak people are capable of such things. The protesters were clearly prepared and led by someone in charge. Otherwise, they would not have been able to easily open the APC hatch and attack with Molotov cocktails.”
