Stage 3 details (attack/ abduction/ rendition/ torture/ assassination/ death):

He was arrested on 29 July 1992 in Shakhrikhan, Andizhan region (eastern Uzbekistan). He has been charged with assault.According to Amnesty the charges have been fabricated in order to punish Pulat Akhunov for his non-violent political activity in opposition to the Government of Uzbekistan (Amnesty International, 1992).

In January 1992 Pulat Akhunov was the victim of the first of a serious of serious assaults by unknown assailants on prominent members of the Birlik movement and independent journalists. He was attacked at the airport in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, as he arrived to board a flight to Moscow. Three unknown persons assaulted him at the entrance to the departure area of the airport, and fled in a waiting car when bystanders came to his defence (Amnesty International, 1992).

In 2007,  he returned to Uzbekistan in order to update his Uzbek passport.He had travelled to Andijon from Sweden in March 2007 to apply for a new passport, as regulations require citizens to renew their passports at 25 and 45 years of age. Authorities refused to renew the passport, rendering Akhunov unable to return to Sweden. The responsible state bodies took his passport and did not issue a new document to him , which would have allowed him to freely move around the country and travel beyond it. He was  secretly taken out by the security forces of Andijan and deported to neighboring Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek ( Ferghana news, 2008).  The authorities forcibly deported  and abducted Birlik opposition party leader driving him across the border, and dropping him off outside Bishkek without money or identification. Before his deportation, government authorities frequently detained Akhunov when he attempted to leave Andijon Province. He has since returned to Sweden (US Department of State, 2009).