ANKARA, 15 Nov 2005 (IRIN) - Human rights groups have strongly criticised the ruling of an Uzbek court finding 15 Andijan trial suspects guilty of terrorism and sentencing them up to 20 years in jail.

'It was expected and some could even have been given the death penalty, but as the case had received such wide international publicity the authorities did not dare to give capital sentences,' Tolib Yakubov, head of the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan (HRSU), a local rights group, said from the Uzbek capital, Tashkent, on Tuesday. “The trial was orchestrated,” he maintained.

“The trial was neither open nor objective,' Surat Ikramov, head of the Independent Initiative Group of Human Rights Activists of Uzbekistan (IIGHRAU), another local rights group, explained. 'Almost all of the suspects were slandering themselves and pleading guilty, and it was clear that the whole process would go that way.” They were not alone in their criticism. Human Rights Watch (HRW), a US-based international rights watchdog, also criticised the ruling, saying it violated international fair-trial standards. 'The outcome was predictable,” said Holly Cartner, HRW's Europe and Central Asia director. “The defendants had no chance to mount a real defence, and the court was in no way independent.'

Their comments came after the Uzbek Supreme Court on Monday sentenced 15 defendants, accused of having organised an uprising in the eastern city of Andijan on 13 May, to lengthy prison terms from 14 to 20 years.

A group of armed men seized weapons at a military barracks and police station in Andijan, then led a prison break to free local businessmen accused of Islamic extremism and took officials hostage in the local government building. Later the protest grew into a rally of thousands of people voicing their anger over growing socioeconomic problems.

But in a swift show of force, Uzbek security forces violently suppressed the protests and, according to rights groups, upwards of 1,000 may have been killed in the crackdown, a charge that Tashkent has flatly denied.

The 15 were charged under more than 30 articles of the Uzbek criminal code, including membership of an extremist organisation, murder and terrorism.

'From the very beginning of the trial, they confessed to all the charges. They [probably] were forced into confessions by torture and other methods,' Yakubov claimed.

'This is not unusual for the Uzbek justice system, they can turn an innocent person into a criminal - any person held in custody by the Uzbek law-enforcement authorities could confess to any crime prompted by the investigators,' the activist continued, referring to the practice of torture in the Uzbek penitentiary system.

A report by the UN's special rapporteur on torture released in 2003 stated that torture was 'systematically' used in the country's prisons and pre-trial detention facilities.

Cartner from HRW echoed that assessment: “We are very concerned that the defendants may have been forced to confess under torture.”

Meanwhile, a senior UN human rights official expressed concern on Tuesday over the verdicts made. Louise Arbour, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the trial had been marred by allegations of irregularities and that serious questions remained over its fairness.

'There are doubts about the adequacy of the defence and it appears that little evidence was presented during the trial, apart from confessions,' she said.

As for the defendants pleading their guilt at the outset of trial, echoing the accusations by the prosecution, she remarked: 'This is particularly worrisome as information from independent sources is greatly at odds with those confessions.'

According to reports, the men's lawyers were state-appointed and although present at the proceedings, did not adequately represent them.

In September, Arbour's office offered to send a monitor to the proceedings in order to help determine their conformity with international fair-trial standards, provided the monitor would be given access to case files and places of detention. However, Tashkent did not agree to that move.

The US State Department also cast doubts over the fairness of the trial on Monday. 'We believe that these convictions are based on evidence that isn't credible and a trial that isn't fair,' Adam Ereli, the State Department's deputy spokesman, said.

'We've expressed those concerns about this case from the very beginning and ... there's never been an independent investigation into the Andijan incidents,' he added.