(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has welcomed the unexpected release of freelance journalist Ulugbek Khaidarov, who was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment on 5 October 2006 after being wrongly charged with “extortion and blackmail”. He was set free, to general surprise, immediately after the adjournment of his appeal hearing. But his release should not allow the constant […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has welcomed the unexpected release of freelance journalist Ulugbek Khaidarov, who was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment on 5 October 2006 after being wrongly charged with “extortion and blackmail”. He was set free, to general surprise, immediately after the adjournment of his appeal hearing. But his release should not allow the constant injustice suffered by journalists to be forgotten, the organisation said.
Khaidarov, a pro-opposition journalist, was freed on 7 November shortly after his appeal hearing was adjourned by the judge, Makhmud Kuldachev, for personal reasons. Later the same day, the judge contacted the journalist’s family to tell them that he had made a ruling at his home and concluded that Khaidarov was innocent. He was released soon afterwards and has been able to visit his family in Andijan.
“This release was unexpected and we can only welcome this news and share the relief of Khaidarov and his family,” the organisation said. “However we cannot forget the brutal repression suffered by journalists in Uzbekistan and the arbitrary nature that defines the government of Islam Karimov. The very circumstances of the release of Ulugbek Khaidarov, which seemed to take place outside of any legal framework, underscore this point . . .” RSF added.
“In particular we condemn the fact that the president’s nephew, Jamshid Karimov, an independent journalist and a colleague of Khaidarov’s, was placed in a psychiatric hospital by the Uzbek authorities after his disappearance on 12 September. No one has been able to visit him, no medical reason has been cited and he is set to remain in hospital for at least another five months. These methods recall the dark days of the Soviet era, in which dissidents were often brought to heel by being sent to mental hospitals,” the organisation added (see IFEX alerts of 27 and 20 September 2006).
Police arrested Khaidarov on 14 September after a woman slipped some money into his pocket as he waited for a bus. They pounced just a few seconds later but not before he had thrown the money on the ground. Since then he has been held in prison in Jizak.
Uzbekistan is ranked 158th in RSF’s worldwide press freedom index for 2006.
