A/HRC/13/42* page 103 detention. In his report of 12 March 2003, Emmanuel Decaux, the OSCE Rapporteur, stated that “the fact that their relatives remain up to this time with no news from some prisoners in secret detention, as Mr. Nazarov or Mr. Shikhmuradov, nourishes rumours according to which these individuals - considered as too compromising for the regime - are said to have already died in prison”.400 The case of Boris Shikhmuradov is currently under the consideration of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.401 204. On 7 October 2005, the Special Rapporteur on torture sent an urgent appeal to the Government of Turkmenistan concerning the situation of a number of individuals sentenced in December 2002 and January 2003 to prison terms ranging from five years to life for their alleged involvement in the above-mentioned assassination attempt.402 The Rapporteur noted that the prisoners continued to be held incommunicado, without access to families, lawyers or independent bodies, such as ICRC. On 23 September 2009, Amnesty International issued a “postcard” calling upon the President to shed light on the disappeared persons in Turkmenistan with reference to the group arrested after the alleged attack on the former President in late 2002.403 2. Uzbekistan 205. In its latest recent report on Uzbekistan, the Committee against Torture expressed concern at the numerous allegations of excessive use of force and ill-treatment by Uzbek military and security forces in the May 2005 events at Andijan, which resulted in, according to the State party, 187 deaths, and according to other sources, 700 or more, and in hundreds of others being detained thereafter. Notwithstanding the State party’s persistent response to all allegations that the measures taken were in fact appropriate, the Committee noted with concern the State party’s failure to conduct full and effective investigations into all claims of excessive force by officials. The Committee also expressed concern about the fact that the State party had limited and obstructed independent monitoring of human rights in the aftermath of the events, thus impairing the ability to make a reliable or credible assessment of the reported abuses, including ascertaining information on the whereabouts and reported torture or ill-treatment of persons detained and/or missing. The Committee also received credible reports that some persons who had sought refuge abroad and were returned to the country had been kept in detention in unknown places and possibly subjected to breaches of the Convention. In this direction, the Committee recommended that Uzbekistan provide information to family members on the 400 Report on Turkmenistan, ODIHR.GAL/15/03. 401 HRC/13/31, para. 579. 402 E/CN.4/2006/6/Add.1, para. 514. 403 Document EUR/61/005/2009, available from www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/EUR61/005/2009/en.