PRESS RELEASE

Galima Bukharbaeva v. Zamondosh:

Berlin, February 9th, 2016 – The district court of Arnhem, the Netherlands, is expected to hear a defamation case brought by independent journalist from Uzbekistan Galima Bukharbaeva against the website Zamondosh. The Netherlands-based Zamondosh is accused of damaging Bukharbaeva’s professional reputation.

Well-known journalist Bukharbaeva, who headed the now defunct Uznews.net, says Zamondosh carried a series of libelous materials against her. She seeks a written rectification as well as compensation for the damage suffered.

The case against Rizo Obidov, owner and editor-in-chief of Zamondosh and resident of Culemborg, the Netherlands, was filed on December 14th of 2015. Mr.Obidov and his lawyer were given a term to respond to the claims made by Ms.Bukharbaeva and to provide evidence to support the statements made in the libelous materials published in 2014. The term expires on 10 February 2016.

Ms.Bukharbaeva’s attempts to resolve the conflict out of court prior to filing the suit had not borne any fruit. Mr Obidov had not responded to the journalist’s settlement suggestions.

Libelous publications

In 2014, Zamondosh published a series of articles which contained libelous statements and fabrications about Ms.Bukharbaeva.

Specifically, Ms.Bukharbaeva is demanding that Mr.Obidov withdraw and rectify the following claims:

1. That Ms.Bukharbaeva received bribes and financial remuneration from Gulnara Karimova, the eldest daughter of Uzbek President Islam Karimov, and other people associated with Karimova’s circle.

2. That Ms.Bukharbaeva was not an independent journalist and did not have any editorial freedom and instead was fully dependent on Uznews.net’s donor, SIDA (Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency).

3. That Ms.Bukharbaeva embezzled funds received from SIDA for the operation of Uznews.net.

The February 15, 2014 Zamondosh article titled “Gulnara, Mutabar and Galima or the Three of Hearts”stated that Gulnara Karimova “has bribed G.Bukharbaeva, who is always hungry for ‘grants’.”

On February 22, 2014 Zamondosh published another article about the journalist titled The Fruit of Doubt Has Eaten the Fruit of Reason, in which it made claims that Ms.Bukharbaeva was connected to and was friends with someone called Boris Raimisher. Online research shows that Mr. Raimisher is thought to be a business partner of Akbarali Abdullaev, Gulnara Karimova’s cousin on the mother’s side.

The September 28, 2014 article The Tiger at the Zoo is not Being Fed Enough claimed that Ms.Bukharbaeva was regularly receiving money from Ms.Karimova through the latter’s son, Islam Karimov. The publication in question said: “When Galima Bukharbaeva runs out of money, she starts writing bad things about Gulnara. That serves as a signal: time to pay up the monthly fee. If she (Ms. Bukharbaeva) starts praising Gulnara that means that the little son Islam has transferred the funds.”

The November 10, 2014 article The Embezzlement Master Class from Uznews.net’s Editor in Chief alleged that Ms. Bukharbaeva had claimed that SIDA exerted editorial control over Uznews.net’s content. The article quotes the journalist’s alleged words “they (donors) impose some conditions on us”.

The same Zamondosh article then moves on to quote Ms.Bukharbaeva’s alleged admission of fraud in fictitious written correspondence to her sister. She is quoted as having written “I got lucky with my sponsors. They pay as much as I need and don’t ask any unnecessary questions. But I still have to cheat; sometimes I inflate the cost of our projects or double-bill past events as new projects.” The article then quotes Ms.Bukharbaeva as having allegedly said the following to her sister, “Of course, it’s not right to appropriate money, but I do it for the sake of my dream.” In fact none of these alleged assertions were ever made by Ms.Bukharbaeva.

In addition to the libelous statements, Zamondosh published confidential business documents pertaining to the operation of Uznews.net, which were obtained as a result of an illegal hacking attack on Ms.Bukharbaeva’s email. The published information put the work of the independent journalists associated with Uznews.net in Uzbekistan in danger. Uznews.net was eventually shut down in order to minimize risks to the journalists’ personal safety.

Silenced journalist and the independent news outlet

Galima Bukharbaeva, former Uznews.net’s Editor-in-Chief, is certain that Zamandosh acted with malicious intent in order to destroy her reputation and bring her site to an end. When Zamondosh first started publishing its fabrications against Ms.Bukharbaeva, the journalist reached out to him with a written inquiry in February 2014. Mr.Obidov chose not respond to her, but never missed an opportunity to send Ms. Bukharbaeva acrimonious notifications of the latest Zamandosh article about her.

“Mr.Rizo Obidov has to take responsibility for the dirt and fabrications he published about me,” says Ms.Bukharbaeva. “He is deeply mistaken in thinking that he can get away with this without any retribution”

“More than anything, however, I wish for this situation to serve as an example for my fellow-countrymen in Uzbekistan: it might be hard to believe for you now, but truth and justice do exist. Countries with the rule of law exist. Honest people, who do not steal to make a living exist as well,” added the journalist.

The prominent free speech watchdog, Reporters Without Borders (RWB), called Uznews.net “the leading independent news website” and “a key source of independent news coverage inside Uzbekistan”. (http://en.rsf.org/ouzbekistan-tribute-to-leading-news-site-that-14-01-2015,47482.html)

“President Islam Karimov’s guard dogs got the better of this source of freely reported news,” said Johann Bihr, the head of the Reporters Without Borders Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk.

“The disappearance of this leading news outlet has dealt a major blow to freedom of information in Uzbekistan, which is almost non-existent under this dictatorial regime. RWB congratulates all of its staff for their extraordinary work during the past ten years of constantly escalating harassment.”

Galima Bukharbaeva’s journalism career

Galima Bukharbaeva founded Uznews.net in 2006 shortly after moving to Germany. In 2005 Ms.Bukharbaeva was forced to leave her native Uzbekistan due to her reporting on the Andijan Massacre. The atrocities took place on May 13, 2005 and claimed hundreds of lives after the Uzbek government law enforcement forces opened fire on thousands of protesters.

From 2000 to 2005, Ms.Bukharbaeva was in charge of the Uzbek project at the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR). Prior to that, she worked as a correspondent for Agence France Presse. Her first job was as a journalist and training coordinator for Internews in Uzbekistan.

Ms.Bukharbaeva graduated with a journalism degree from the Tashkent State University in 1997 and received her master’s in journalism from the Columbia University in New York City (USA) in 2006.

In 2005, Ms.Bukharbaeva won the International Press Freedom Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The award citation recognized the dangers she faced in her reporting in Andijan and stated that she had earned “a reputation as one of Central Asia’s most outspoken journalists.“ In 2011, Newsweek recognized her as “one of ten female journalists that risked their lives“ in pursuit of a story. In 2013, the German ZEIT dedicated a room in Galima’s honor in its new ZEIT ONLINE offices in Berlin.

For additional information:

Galima Bukharbaeva – (49) 176 805 7176 4