Law enforcement agencies in Karshi city tried to intimidate a lawyer of the Uzbek refugee Khairullo Tursunov, who was extradited from Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan this spring. Meanwhile, Tursunov’s relatives complain about lack of money to pay the lawyer’s services.

“Jarayon”s sources in Uzbekistan reported that the refugee Khairullo Tursunov, extradited from Almaty to Tashkent in March this year, is now in prison located in Shaykhali village near the city of Karshi.

– Two or three days ago his relatives were able to pass him a peredacha (package of food and clothes to inmate – Jarayon). They hired a lawyer, who asked for copies of Khairullo’s passport from his sisters. He promised to deal with all the paperwork, talk with the investigator, and organize a meeting for them with their brother.

Call for Applications 2013

The George Washington University – Elliott School of International Affairs’ Central Asian Program (CAP) and Stockholm International Peace Research Institute North America (SIPRI North America) welcome applications for their Central Asia Fellowship Program.

The CAP-SIPRI North America Central Asia Fellowship Program is intended for young professionals—scholars, government officials, policy experts, human rights and democracy activists—who want to enhance their research and analytical skills and seek to become public policy leaders in their respective countries. More generally, the fellowship program seeks to provide a platform for the exchange of ideas and build lasting intellectual networks between the Central Asian and the US scholarly and policy communities.

The Uzbek authorities are using a proven method for achieving their ambitious plans to reconst Urgench. Since January, schoolchildren, and students spend half of their schooling day to cleaning rubbish, sweeping streets, digging up the ground and planting seedlings.

Last year the government allocated 112 billion sum (approx. 55 million US dollars – Jarayon) for creation of a new image of the regional center in Urgench. At the moment, the authorities are constructing administrative and residential buildings, and demolishing more than 400 buildings, garages and sheds, removing fences of private gardens and orchards in Urgench city.

Capital of Sweden, Stockholm, is hosting an international conference for human rights defenders who put their lives at risk. Head of the Human Rights Alliance of Uzbekistan, Yelena Urlayeva, who previously reported that the Uzbek authorities were strongly obstructing her participation at this event, was finally able to fly from Tashkent to Stockholm.

On Tuesday, April 2, a four-day conference entitled “Human rights defenders day – strengthening the capacity of human rights defenders at risk”, organized by the Civil Rights Defenders, started in Stockholm, Sweden.

Law enforcement officials in Khatlon region reported that searches for Salimboy Shamsiddinov, leader of the Uzbek community, did not give any results.

Deputy Head of the Department of Internal Affairs of Khatlon region of Tajikistan, Eminjon Jalilov, said that rumors in the community that local security forces are involved in disappearance of Salimboy Shamsiddinov are unfounded.

A well-known journalist, human rights defender and activist of the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan “Ezgulik”, Dilmurod Sayyid, who is serving a sentence in prison 64/36 in Navoi region of Uzbekistan, needs immediate medical checkup and qualified hospital care.

Dilmurod Sayyid’s brother Obid Saidov, who met him in prison in the middle of March this year, told mass media about his difficult physical condition. Their meeting was held in a special prison in Tashkent (Sangorod) for sick inmates, where the journalist was transferred because of his critical physical condition and severe illness.

As we have reported earlier, in the beginning of March, Mutabar Tadjibayeva, head of the International Human Rights Organization “Fiery Hearts Club”, Craig Murray, former British ambassador to Uzbekistan, well known Danish filmmaker Michael Andersen, Igor Vorontsov, former employee of an international organization “Human Rights Watch” and journalist Andre Lorsch went to Cologny, one of the most exclusive areas of Geneva, to see the house of Gulnara Karimova, eldest daughter of Uzbek President Islam Karimov.

After this visit, Gulnara Karimova’s personal blog and several other online media published her interview to Swiss magazine Bilan in which she gave unfounded statements, offensive words and accusations against Mutabar Tadjibayeva and Craig Murray.

We decided to publish our stand and position on this situation.

On March 13 in Geneva international NGO CIVICUS organized a meeting with three countries, such as Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan in order to examine the key areas of concern to be highlighted during each country’s upcoming Universal Periodic Review in April this year. The topic of the side event was “Eurasia: The silencing of Human Rights Defenders” and brought together both local and international NGOs, national civil society activists and professionals interested in this topic. Renate Bloem, head of Geneva UN Advocacy Office, CINICUS moderated the conference.

In early March of this year, Mutabar Tadjibayeva, prominent human rights activist and head of the International human rights organization “Fiery Hearts Club”, based in France, went to Geneva to participate in the ten-day International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights (FIFDH).

Also, during her visit to Switzerland, a human rights activist and several of her colleagues visited one of the most élite areas of Geneva – Cologny. The purpose of their visit to Cologny was to see the house of Gulnara Karimova, eldest daughter of Uzbek President Islam Karimov, at the address 7 Rue Prevote, Cologny, Geneva.

We would like to draw your attention to the 11th Joint meeting of the Uzbek-Japanese Economic Cooperation Committee which took place on March 5, 2012 in Tashkent with the participation of the Vice President of «Marubeni Corporation» Mr.Mamoru Sekiyama and the senior advisor of the fund «The Sasakawa Peace Foundation» Professor Mr.Yoshiaki Sasaki.