Uzbek 'show trial' begins
Authorities in Uzbekistan claim foreign media helped 'Islamists' try to overthrow government.
Uzbek government authorities Tuesday claimed that Western aid groups and media – in particular the BBC – helped Islamists militants try to overthrow the government. The claims were made, reports
The Guardian, during the start of the trial in Tashkent of the 15 men accused of
instigating the May 2005 uprising. The claims were part of an attempt to paint the events in Andijon, where witnesses say 500 people were gunned down by troops, "as a foreign-assisted coup aimed at forming an Islamic caliphate."
The prosecutors stopped short of accusing the foreign media of having co-planned the event, yet suggested they had been tipped off. They said several foreign journalists in Andijon on the day of the massacre were brought to the state building seized by the gunmen so they would report a peaceful uprising ... [The prosecutors] singled out two
BBC journalists: Jenny Norton, a
World Service reporter, for saying the protests in Andijon were of "an unprecedented scale"; and a
Russian Service correspondent, Valeri Pankrashin, for saying Akramiya members were businessmen, not extremists. A reporter for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Galina Bukharbayeva, was also frequently criticized for similar comments made on
CNN and in her reports.
The
BBC reports that the unrest began on May 12 when supporters of 23 local businessmen, on trial for alleged 'Islamic extremism," broke into the Andijion jail and freed them. The group then occupied the town hall, and a "huge government protest began." Observers say that Uzbek troops were sent to the area and fired indiscriminately on protesters and anyone else near the scene. The government of Uzbekistan says only 187 people were killed, but Western sources place the death tool between 500 and 1000.
On the same day the trial started,
IRINNews.org reports that
Human Rights Watch and
Amnesty International released reports that documented "
months of abuse" by the Uzbek government against foreign media and workers who "exposed the scale of the massacre."
"The government has been laying siege to the truth of what happened in Andijon," Maisy Weicherdi, Central Asia researcher for Amnesty International (AI), said from London, calling for such efforts to cease and the truth to be heard. "There must be justice and reparation for all the victims," Weicherdi stressed.
USAToday.com reports that Human Rights Watch says the country's police engaged in a "
brutal intimidation campaign," including efforts to force people to confess that they belong to "extremist religious groups."
USAToday.com also reports that the events in Andijon severely damaged the country's relations with the West.
"...Uzbek President Islam Karimov rejected calls for an international investigation after rights groups said more than 700 people were killed. The government of Karimov, who has ruled for 16 years and tolerates no dissent, has put the death toll at 187.
Reflecting the strain in diplomatic ties, Uzbekistan, which hosted US troops since 2001 for operations in Afghanistan, abruptly ordered them in July to leave within six months. At the same time, Uzbekistan has deepened cooperation with Russia and China, both of which offered strong support for the government's handling of the uprising.
In a second report, Amnesty International reports that in the months after the massacre, Uzbek authorities
pursued refugees from Andijon into Kyrgyzstan massacre.
Since the Andijon violence, officers from the Uzbekistani state security service (MNB) have been operating freely in southern Kyrgyzstan, an AI researcher learned on a visit there in late July. They have carried out house-to-house questioning, and even made on-the-spot arrests, without warrants and with no Kyrgyzstani law enforcement officers in attendance. Their chief targets have been refugees from Andijon who fled to Kyrgyzstan by other routes since 13 May, and Kyrgyzstani citizens who were visiting Andijon on that day. At the trial itself, all 15 men pled guilty to the charges. But their relatives were not allowed to attend any of the proceedings. Only the relatives of those allegedly killed by the demonstrators were present. The
BBC reports that the prosecution will start questioning the defendants on the trial's second day. The
BBC's correspondent in Tashkent says the proceedings are being compared to a "
Soviet-style show trial."
Finally, the
Associated Press reports that six US senators – four Republicans and two Democrats – have written to the Pentagon to protest the Uzbek government
being given $23 million for the use of the airbase, known as K-2, from which the US is being evicted. "The senators said they objected to paying a regime "that has expelled our forces from its country, massacred hundreds of demonstrators at Andijan and is disregarding US concerns on a host of issues." The Pentagon says it still intends to pay the money.
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