(RSF/IFEX) – On 26 June, Uzbek police arrested Radio Free Europe correspondent Gafur Yuldashev in Andijan and questioned him for about four hours. The same day, independent journalist Ulugbek Khaidarov was severely beaten by thugs in Karshi as he was on his way to visit a colleague. “Brutality against journalists continues since the events in […]
(RSF/IFEX) – On 26 June, Uzbek police arrested Radio Free Europe correspondent Gafur Yuldashev in Andijan and questioned him for about four hours. The same day, independent journalist Ulugbek Khaidarov was severely beaten by thugs in Karshi as he was on his way to visit a colleague.
“Brutality against journalists continues since the events in Andijan on 13 May,” RSF said. “We urge Interior Minister Zakir Almatov to launch an impartial investigation into the abuse of power by police officers against independent journalists. President Islam Karimov should also be concerned about this policy of systematic repression that seriously damages press freedom in his country.”
On 26 June, Yuldashev was due to interview two representatives of the banned opposition party Erk, Isroil Holdorov and Sadirohun Sufiev, in Andijan’s Yangibozor bazaar when he was arrested by eight police officers who took him to the Interior Ministry offices. They searched and then questioned him several times over a four hour period. The police threatened him with immediate imprisonment and confiscated his dictaphone before finally releasing him.
Khaidarov was attacked on the evening of 26 June in Karshi, some 200 metres form the home of Tulkin Karaev, an independent journalist placed under house arrest by the local authorities. Two thugs accosted him and begun beating him on the head. After he fell to the ground, they kicked him, saying, “What are you doing in Karshi? Get back where you came from!” Passers-by, who were alerted by the noise, drove off the attackers. Khaidarov returned to his home in Jizzakh the following day. “I have no intention of filing a complaint because it would be a waste of time and energy,” he told RSF.
It was the second time in the past two months that Khaidarov, who contributes to the opposition websites http://www.fergana.ru and http://www.centrasia.ru, was physically attacked. On the night of 23 to 24 April, the journalist was severely beaten by an unidentified assailant in Jizzakh. He was taken to hospital with a broken collarbone and two broken ribs (see IFEX alert of 26 April 2005).
Local Governor Ubaidulla Yamankulov called the journalist on 20 April, telling him to stop writing his articles and threatening to “settle scores with him.”
