It is during the preliminary investigation phase, before suspects are formally charged, that the most severe abuse takes place. Although Uzbek law provides for access to legal counsel from the moment of detention, police frequently pressure detainees not to seek counsel. When detainees or their families attempt to engage an independent defense lawyer, police and investigators often simply refuse requests from lawyers for access to their clients in lock-ups or remand prisons until they have secured a confession from the accused. Even when lawyers do gain access to clients in lock-ups and remand prisons, they do not have the right to freely arrange independent, objective forensic medical examinations that could provide evidence of torture. Those attorneys who do attempt to request a forensic examination face grave consequences, as do their clients, of retribution by police.
Police corruption abounds.
Families are extorted for bribes in order to have their relatives released and to lessen the severity of the charges against them. In addition, judicial corruption is linked with harsh prison sentences, as leniency must be purchased. Fearful of the consequences of speaking out during the investigation, victims and their lawyers may wait until the case comes to trial to raise a protest against torture. Judges who receive such testimony rarely take it into account when assessing the state's case against the accused, or initiate investigations as called for by Uzbek law. Despite legal prohibitions on the use of evidence obtained under torture, courts routinely admit coerced confessions into evidence and issue convictions on that basis.