The Uzbek authorities have extended the jail term for convicted journalist Yusuf Ruzimurodov for three years more.

Uzbek oppositionist Dilorom Iskhakova told “Jarayon” about that.

According to her, in May 2014 54-year-old Uzbek journalist Yusuf Ruzimurodov was supposed to be released, but at the end of his prison term, the administration of colony UA 64/3 located in Tavaksai district of Tashkent province, charged him with “violation of the internal prison rules”.

It is worth noting that the authorities often use this accusation against political and religious prisonersnot to release them at the end of their prison terms.

“According to our information, the health status of Yusuf Ruzimurodov is grave. He suffers from tuberculosis. He does not have a family. His father died in 2010, and his mother died a year earlier. It turns out that now in Uzbekistan he does not have close relatives, who could visithim in the prison. This exacerbates the situation of the imprisoned journalist,” Dilorom Iskhakova told “Jarayon”.

She also said that international human rights and media protection organizations should call the Uzbek authorities to immediately release the journalist from the prison, who was convicted for political reasons.

It will be recalled that the journalist Yusuf Ruzimurodov was an employee of the “Erk” [Will] opposition newspaper of “Erk” political party led by Muhammad Salikh, the chief opponent of President Islam Karimov.

After the well-known explosions in Tashkent, mass arrests and harassment of opposition politicians, independent journalists, human rights activists, believers and in some cases even their relativesbegan in the country. For this reason, journalist Yusuf Ruzimurodov and younger brother of Mukhammad Salikh, Mukhammad Bekzhan, who was the chief editor of “Erk”, had to leave the country and seek asylum in Kiev. However, the Uzbek security services illegally delivered Ruzimurodov and Bekzhan from Ukraine back to Tashkent.

In August 1999, Mukhammad Bekzhan and Yusuf Ruzimurodov were accused by the Uzbek authorities of involvement in terrorist acts in Tashkent. The Uzbek court sentenced Bekzhan to 8 and Ruzimurodov to 15 years of imprisonment.

Mukhammad Bekzhan and Yusuf Ruzimurodov did not admit their guilt and said that they were subject to brutal tortureduring the investigations.

Mukhammad Bekzhan is one of those journalists, who is kept in prison for the longest period compared to other imprisoned journalists around the world. Now the journalist is in the prison in the town of Kasan. His family members said that his health deterioratedas a result of ill-treatment. He, like his colleague Yusuf Ruzimurodov, has tuberculosis. It will be recalled that the International Organization “Reporters without Borders” awarded Mukhammad Bekzhan with the Prize for “Freedom of the press” in Strasbourg on 27 November 2013.

Though the Uzbek authorities claim that the two journalists were convicted for criminal acts, international human rights organizations do not cease asserting that Mukhammad Bekzhan and Yusuf Ruzimurodov suffered for their political views.

Sofia DAVRONOVA