“Slander is a more cruel weapon than a sword, as the wounds which the former gives are always incurable,” once said Henry Fielding, a great English philosopher and novelist. How much psychological and physical suffering can slander give a person? And what if a certain slander has been published in a newspaper, which has thousands of readers?

Asli Baris, a journalist from high-circulation Turkish newspaper Hürriyet, known for her fashion stories, wrote in the story titled “My Life like The Magnificent Century”, “First Daughter of Uzbekistan Gulnara Karimova strikes back at recent claims” that during negotiations with the Uzbek president’s daughter, she got a letter into her email account from a secret encrypted and email, in which Gulnara Karimova wrote to her: “I’ll give you an interview, but you will write only what I say … And you should publish this interview without a delay as even we do not know what will happen soon.”

In the Turkish version of the newspaper, Asli Baris posted 22 photos of Gulnara made during her “stardom”. Since I saw the story, I have been wondering: “How did journalist Asli Baris benefit by having promoted Islam Karimov’s eldest daughter this way?” I still hope to find a reasonable answer to this question.

After the slander and insults against me, which were published in Gulnara’s interview to Hürriyet newspaper, I became interested in the history of this outlet and familiarized with the information in Facebook social network.

According to Ilhan Savaş, the founder of Hürriyet newspaper, which has been published since March 15, 1961, it appears that the basic principles of the newspaper are fairness, objectivity and impartiality.

However, the journalist “urgently” published the interview with Gulnara and did not even check veracity of the information about people accused by Karimova of “committing serious crimes”, and due to these actions, naturally each person, who has read the interview, may doubt “objectivity of Hürriyet people”.

Because, nowadays advanced technologies enable anyone find enough information on the matter of interest using the Internet. For instance, if someone wants to find information about Mutabar Tadjibayeva, who is mentioned in this material as the main cause of all troubles that have fallen onto Gulnara, he or she can google “Mutabar Tadjibaeva” to receive 197,000 links within seconds or type “Mutabar Tadjibayeva” to get 4,180 references about the human rights activist.

If Ms. Asli Baris, following the newspaper’s principles and having spent a little time, had inquired who this “one of the leaders of the criminal organization” Mutabar Tadjibayeva is and what her unfortunate fate is, today she would not have disgraced either herself or Hürriyet newspaper before the whole world.

If Asli Baris, not having become a participator of Gulnara Karimova’s slander against the woman, who was subjected to horrible tortures and violence in Uzbek prisons for several years only because she demanded that officials would comply with the law and conduct an independent investigation after the shooting of peaceful demonstrators on May 13, 2005 in the city of Andizhan, if she had exposed lies of Islam Karimov’s eldest daughter, her authority would have grown not only among her Turkish readers, but also among the people of Uzbekistan, who have been subjected to oppression and humiliation for more than twenty years by the government of Uzbekistan, and dictator Karimov. Unfortunately, Asli Baris has acted differently.

Having read the third question in the interview to Hürriyet newspaper, which relates to me, I realized that Ms. Asli Baris has been sufficiently informed about the situation with Yanis Galanos. In particular, the journalist asked Gulnara Karimova: “Accusations made by you are denied by other participants of the events. For example, you wrote on Twitter last week that Uzbek investigators had tortured Yanis Galanos. He claims that this never happened”.

This means that prior to the interview with Gulnara Karimova, Ms. journalist had information that Yanis Galanos had denied all allegations of Gulnara Karimova that he was tortured. It turns out that Asli Baris also initially knew that Mutabar Tadjibayeva was not involved in the preparation and publication of the video related to Yanis Galanos, a Greek citizen.

Because representatives of the press service of Ezgulik, a human rights society of Uzbekistan, visited the Rehabilitation Center of the Internal Affairs Department in Tashkent and met with Yanis Galanos, talked with him and made a video record. On December 4, they distributed the press release titled “Yanis Galanos: Information about tortures applied against me is a lie”. On December 5, Ozodlik, the Uzbek service of Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, posted the story titled “Gulnara Karimova’s employee Yanis Galanos denied allegations about use of torture” and had a four-minute interview with Vasili Inoyatova, the head of Ezgulik Human Rights Society, who personally met and talked with Yanis Galanos. In addition, Radio Ozodlik was one of the first media outlets that posted the video interview with Yanis Galanos on its website.

I would like to remind that after journalist Galima Bukharbayeva, who communicated with Gulnara Karimova on Twitter, wrote her that she had slandered me, journalist Asli Baris and the management of Hürriyet newspaper had to soften the interview consisting of slander, and made some changes in the material posted online. In particular, they have removed from the interview the sentence of Gulnara Karimova, in which she stated that “it was all organized by Mutabar Tadjibayeva. The new version of this interview paragraph begins as follows: “Let’s take it from the start. Nongovernment organizations, embassies, foreign public media resources and bloggers reported that Yanis Galanos was kidnapped from a taxi in the center of Tashkent by armed guys in two cars, without any info to his family.” Although the first version of the interview had “came up with info” instead of “reported”.

In fact, none of non-governmental organizations, embassies or bloggers spread information about the kidnapping of Yanis Galanos.

Only www.centrasia.ru website published a short post on 16 November titled “Greek citizen Yanis Galanos kidnapped by unknown people in Uzbekistan”. This web site does not have any relation to any non-governmental organizations or embassies; it is considered an independent online media outlet. The given website posted a report on November 13 at 11.30 am stating “Greek citizen Yanis Galanos was kidnapped in the center of Tashkent on the presidential highway by armed men in two vehicles, who forced the taxi stop by roadside.” The report also mentioned what Yanis Galanos was occupied with. This website reported that the mother of Yanis Galanos is a citizen of Greece, and his family, including his one-year-old daughter, are concerned about his life and had already submitted an application to the relevant authorities of Uzbekistan. At the end of the report published by the given website, the following information was provided: “Please help. At least by means of publications. Mother. The contact number in Uzbekistan is +998911621313”.

On November 30, Gulnara Karimova wrote on Twitter that Yanis Galanos was in the basement of the National Security Service and that “they brutally beat him to force a confession”.

Karimova also asserted the following on Twitter: “Yanis Galanos was severely beaten and he was forced to make confession to the camera – so terrible, we used to see such things only in movies.” According to Gulnara, Yanis Galanos, having been tortured, was forced to say that 90-99 percent of Karimova’s Twitter followers are “fake”. Also Karimova wrote that Yanis was forced to read the text in front of the camera. The text was composed by Khayot Sharifkhozhaev, a National Security Service general. “Galanos has lost 20 kilos because of tortures, bruises and bumps can be seen on his face,” said Gulnara Karimova on Twitter.

In her interview to the Turkish newspaper, Gulnara mentioned our visit to her mansion in Geneva in March 2013. I would also like to say that after this visit, Gulnara filed a complaint to the police accusing me and a few people of supposed attempts to illegally enter her house. Karimova also demanded in her complaint to the police that they should initiate a criminal case against me. Gulnara published this slander on her blog and several websites that supported her that time, on which Karimova also asserted that she had a video confirming our attack on her house. At the police station in Geneva, I demanded that law enforcers should show me that video. In reply, the policemen said the following: “The Head of the Uzbekistan Mission to the UN in Geneva office (meaning Gulnara Karimova – the note of Jarayon) told us that that day camcorders in her house were not connected.” However, we, who visited Gulnara’s mansion in Geneva that day, managed to provide the general public with a video, which could prove that Gulnara Karimova barefacedly lied to the Geneva police and thus we have proved that she slandered all of us.

Soon, Gulnara Karimova slandered me for the second time saying that I broke a car window in the garage mission of Uzbekistan at the UN Geneva office. Then the Geneva police conducted its own investigation and was able to expose more lies and slander of Gulnara proving that the window of the Uzbekistan mission car was broken on the parking lot near the international airport in Geneva and that the given case was not a political attack but a usual act of hooliganism.

Regarding the case of Yanis Galanos, Gulnara Karimova also reported that she has a video related to the given case, but she does not share it with the public. This raises a question whether she possesses such a video.

After the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Greece became interested in the case of its citizen Yanis Galanos following Gulnara’s statement, the National Security Service, the Interior Ministry and the Prosecutor General of Uzbekistan organized a meeting for human rights activists with Yanis. However, I cannot exclude that before this meeting with the human rights activists, they could have done ‘educative work’ with the detainee.

I, a former political prisoner, who spent 970 days in Uzbek prisons, personally witnessed such cases. While doing my human rights job, I constantly raise the alarm about crimes of the authorities related to tortures, and I believe that I do not need to prove that I have never participated and do not intend to participate in such dirty games.

In particular, in her interview to Hürriyet newspaper, Gulnara Karimova said: “Strange enough that right after waves of questions to Uzbek officials about foreign citizen Yanis Galanos, Mutabar Tadjibayeva (by video) together with “Zamondosh” informed the world that Yanis is happy and healthy “laughing” about questions of family and friends about his safety. Many HR organizations fighters and independent bloggers already strongly criticized that unprofessionally made video “farce” by SNB and their servants”.

“On video one can’t see “Human Rights fighters” asking questions, but only Yanis”.

“In such a “tyrannical state” in the words of Mutabar herself, she has accomplished a miracle: so easily and fantastically quick (through one night) got permission and such an opportunity to quiet down everyone in the world that a person kidnapped three weeks ago happily agrees to sit in jail for administrative misdoing such as a registration delay. Nothing about why to he was held in jail, how long and so on is in the video”.

“One of human rights activist who asked not to mention his name, also let us know that it is a part of a huge conspiracy where M. Tadjibayeva always played her own role…”

These words of Gulnara are an absolute lie: On the fourth minute of the video, which lasts for 4 minutes and 38 seconds, one can easily see Vasilya Inoyatova talking with Yanis Galanos.

This is the level of the lady, a former head of the Permanent Mission of Uzbekistan to the United Nations, former Ambassador of Uzbekistan to Spain, “the leader” of the youth of Uzbekistan, who made a laughing-stock of herself by not having verified accuracy of the information related to her and who has believed the deception of her “errand-boys”.

I, Mutabar Tadjibayeva, who is not able to return to Uzbekistan because of pressure of Gulnara Karimova’s father on me, I, who was granted a political asylum in France and continue human rights activities fighting against crimes of the current regime, consider it is absolute madness that Gulnara tries to convince everyone that I can safely arrive in Tashkent, moreover, I can meet with a victim of tortures, who has been detained, and interview him. Many of my partners are well aware that despite the fact that I left the motherland five years ago, these days I do not have an opportunity to travel not only to Uzbekistan, but also to countries neighboring on Uzbekistan. Besides, Alexandra Kulaeva, the representative of International Federation for Human Rights and Marina Lebedeva, the leader of students’ movement “Fiery Hearts”, and a story published on our website, can confirm that the next day after the video with Yanis Galanos was made, that is the morning of December 5, I met with Patrizianna Sparacino-Thiellay at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France in Paris, the Human Rights Ambassador of France, to discuss human rights problems in Uzbekistan.

At present, struggle for power intensified between criminal groups in Uzbekistan. We try to be cautious and not to be involved in their slanders directed against each other. At the same time, we continue publishing materials exposing their crimes not on other websites, but we publish them in three languages ​​on www.jarayon.com, the founder of which is Fiery Hearts Club, an international human rights organization headed by me.

What has been mentioned above shows that in her interview to Hürriyet newspaper, Gulnara Karimova provided untrue information defamatory to my honor, dignity and business reputation.

Hürriyet should immediately publish denials in English and Turkish on the same page in the volume equivalent to Gulnara Karimova’s interview (this material may be an interview with me). I also decided to make sure that Gulnara Karimova, the newspaper’s management and Ms. Asli Baris present their apologies on pages of the newspaper. In the Turkish version of refutation, I consider it is appropriate to publish not 22 photos of Gulnara Karimova, but 22 pictures of prisoners convicted in Uzbekistan for political reasons, who have become victims of tortures in Uzbek prisons. In case my requirements are not fulfilled as soon as possible, I will have to sue Hürriyet newspaper and Gulnara Karimova, and require the court to confiscate Gulnara Karimova’s property in France in my favor in moral damages.

In order to cover up her crimes, Gulnara Karimova, enjoying her lies published in Hürriyet newspaper, continues distributing information on Twitter disgracing my honor. Sometimes she compares me with Karlsson-on-the-Roof, sometimes she scoffs at me calling me Mutabar- FAIRY.

Perhaps, doing this, Gulnara Karimova avenges me because the police and the Prosecutor General’s Office did not file a criminal case against me on the basis of her written complaints against me and because I addressed a Switzerland parliamentarian with a proposal to initiate inspections of origin of funds, which Gulnara Karimova and Lola Karimova used to purchase expensive real estates on the territory of Geneva? Maybe Gulnara considers me responsible for being forced to resign from the post of the Uzbekistan representative mission head at the UN Geneva office and this is why she slanders me?

Perhaps all these have been done because of Gulnara’s annoyance, who disgraced herself before the whole world when we called famous singer Lara Fabian not to sing in front of the dictator’s family during “Art Week” and refuse Karimova’s offer to come to Tashkent? In fact, after this, having learned about the statement of our French partner, ACAT human rights organization, Lara Fabian officially declared that she was not going to sing for family members of the Uzbek dictator.

Also, I assume that Gulnara Karimova decided to give an interview to Turkish Hürriyet newspaper after our organization Fiery Hearts Club revealed an expensive real estate in the center of Istanbul owned by Tamara Sabirova, Gulnara’s maternal aunt, and appealed to Sadullah Ergin, the Minister of Justice of the Turkish Republic, with a request to take under control real estates of relatives and family members of dictator Karimov located on the territory of this country.

I called the number that was provided by www.centrasia.ru in the report about Yanis Galanos to get information about current state of the person; Gulnara accused me of his disappearance. I managed to talk to Yanis’s wife. According to the lady, who answered my questions on the phone, his family hired a lawyer to defend him, but the lawyer is still not able to find out about his whereabouts. His family has not seen him since his detention; they still do not know where he is and what his condition is.

I told his wife that although I saw that video, but as a person, who spent 2 years and 8 months in prisons in Uzbekistan and was brutally tortured, I have nothing to do with dissemination of the video, in which Yanis says that allegedly his rights were not violated there are no problems. I also told the lady that her husband was forced to declare all this on the camera. Then the lady told me that they were told that the video on “Zamandosh” was posted from my account. I told this to Rizo Obid, the founder of “Zamandosh” website, but he said that he received the video onto his email box from an email of Ezgulik human rights organization.

When I started explaining to the wife of Yanis Galanos that it is necessary to apply to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece and demand that the rights of Greek citizens should be defended, the telephone connection was lost and then I could no longer contact the lady.

I can only agree with one opinion of Gulnara Karimova, which she mentioned in her interview with the Turkish newspaper saying that Uzbekistan is headed by a group of robbers, torture is systematic in the country and life of Yanis Galanos is still in danger.

Mutabar Tadjibayeva,
the head of “Fiery Hearts Club”, an
international human rights association,
a winner of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity
Human Rights Prize of the French Republic,
a torture victim and former political prisoner,
a winner of Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders

December 12, 2013