Telco caught colluding with dictators

May 1st, 2012

Nordic Telecom giant TeliaSonera forced to act after evidence that its data has been abused to target, harass and jail activists in Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Belarus. Fredrik Laurin reports (more…)

Uzbekistan: Activist Karamatov released

April 16th, 2012

Alisher Karamatov, a member of teh Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan, was released from prison on 13 April, having served almost six years of a nine-year sentence. Karamatov was found guilty of extortion and imprisoned in 2006, but independent observers believe the charges were trumped up and he was peresecuted for his human rights monitoring work. According to Human Rights Watch, “at least 10 ” human rights defenders remain in prison in Uzbekistan.

Uzbekistan: Growing concern over targeting of independent journalists

April 5th, 2012

A number of incidents in the last few weeks have raised concerns over the harassment of journalists in Uzbekistan. On 26 March, independent journalist Viktor Krymzalov was convicted of defamation for an article which was published without a byline. The plaintiff “assumed” it was written by Krymzalov, but no evidence was provided to support the claim. Journalist Elena Bondar was charged with  with “inciting national, racial, ethnic or religious hatred,” after sending letters to the media about alleged government harassment. Novaya Gazeta journalist Victoria Ivleva was recently denied entry to the country.

Uzbekistan: Novaya Gazeta columnist deported

March 26th, 2012

Former Novaya Gazeta columnist Victoria Ivleva was deported from Uzbekistan in an incident she believes is linked to her work. Ivleva flew to Tashkent for a photo workshop last Friday, but was not allowed to leave the airport. She was then refused a meeting with the Russian consul and put on a flight back to Russia. Ivleva has said she believes the deportation was linked to an article she wrote almost five years ago about Uzbekistan called The Country of Fish. She has also expressed support for photographer Umida Akhmedova, who was persecuted by the authorities for a photo collection that highlighted gender inequality in Uzbekistan.

From the archives, 50 years, 50 writers: Djamshid Karimov

December 2nd, 2011

One of the writers championed by Index on Censorship and English PEN to mark 50 years of the Writers in Prison Committee, Uzbek journalist Djamshid Karimov was released from a psychiatric hospital on 30 November.

Djamshid Karimov, nephew of Uzbek president Islam Karimov, is an outspoken critic of the government, known for reporting on socio-political issues. He worked as a freelance journalist for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, and contributed to independent newspapers and online publications under the pseudonym Andrei Nazarov. After reporting on the Andijan massacre in May 2005, during a period when his uncle systematically sought to silence all independent voices of protest, Karimov and his family were subjected to intense police surveillance.

In August 2006, after applying for an exit visa to attend a journalism seminar in Kyrgyzstan, Karimov’s passport was seized by the authorities. The head of the regional administration in Jizak visited the family home on 31 August, and offered Karimov positions at two state newspapers, apparently in a bid to entice him away from independent journalism. He refused and shortly afterwards, on 12 September, he disappeared. Two weeks later, Karimov’s friends discovered that he was being held against his will in a psychiatric hospital in Samarkand, initially under a six-month detention order. The authorities would not specify the reason for his detention, calling it a “private matter”. His fiancée was permitted to visit him and found him distressed by his detention; he had reportedly been forced to accept unnecessary treatment and anti-psychotic medication.

Karimov’s detention order was “reviewed” in March 2007 and extended for six months, but authorities disclosed no further details. Since then, as far as his family knows, the court has not officially passed a decision to further extend Karimov’s treatment. Nonetheless, despite regular promises that he would soon be discharged, he remains incarcerated. Karimov has now been undergoing forced treatment for more than four years.

This article originally appeared in Beyond Bars: 50 Years of the PEN Writers in Prison Committee. To subscribe to Index, click here. 

Uzbekistan: Charges dropped against freelance journalist

September 13th, 2011

All charges against freelance journalist Elena Bondar in Uzbekistan have been dropped. Bondar was detained at Tashkent airport on 22 August returning from a journalism seminar in Kyrgyzstan, she was told she faced prosecution because she did not declare professional material that was seized from her.

Uzbekistan: Freelance journalist under investigation

August 31st, 2011

Elena Bondar, an Uzbekistani freelance journalist who was briefly detained at Tashkent airport last week, has been notified that she is to be prosecuted for not declaring the professional material that was seized from her at the time, and that it will be examined by a censorship committee. When interrogated again for three hours on 27 August, Bondar was told that she is to be prosecuted under articles of the customs law and the civil code for failing to declare the four USB flash drives, three CDs and two video cassettes that were taken from her when she landed in the Uzbek capital on 22 August. She is facing a possible fine on these charges.

Uzbekistan: Journalist detained at airport

August 23rd, 2011

Uzbek journalist Elena Bondar was detained at the arrivals area of Tashkent airport after attending a course on modern journalism tools organised by OSCE and Deutsche Welle in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.  After a thorough examination of her documents and baggage, customs officials let the journalist go home, but confiscated CDs and USB flash drives with training materials.