West Helped Secure Uzbek Opposition Leader's Release
West Helped Secure Uzbek Opposition Leader's Release
The release of leading uzbek political prisoner Sanjar Umarov has been put down to calls from the international community and efforts by local human rights activists.
It was reported on November 7 that Sanjar Umarov, who heads the Sunny Coalition had been freed after spending four years in jail.
Human rights defenders at home and abroad had repeatedly written letters calling for his release.
“Our organisation monitored [actions taken towards] his release. When a European Commission visited Uzbekistan, we petitioned them repeatedly to secure his release,” said Surat Ikramov, who heads the Initiative Group of Independent Human Rights Defenders. “Other local human rights groups also called for his release. This may be the fruit of our efforts.”
Umarov’s colleagues and other commentators are convinced the charges on which he was convicted were fabricated for political reasons. When he was arrested in Tashkent in October 2005, he was accused of economic rather than political crimes – setting up an organised criminal group, large-scale embezzlement, forgery, and non-payment of taxes.
He was sentenced to 11 years in prison, later reduced to seven.
His arrest came soon after he set up the Sunny Uzbekistan Coalition and used an open letter to the Uzbek parliament as well as to the Russian and United States governments calling for an open investigation of the violence in Andijan in May 2005, when the government troops fired into a demonstration, killing and wounding hundreds of people.
He also called for a dialogue between the opposition and the authorities, and urged the latter to embark on market reforms and move away from the Soviet-style planned economy which he argued had brought the country to a standstill.
Prior to getting involved in politics, Umarov was a prominent businessman who set up Uzbekistan’s first mobile phone company, brought in US investment to build an oil refinery in Bukhara and a gas and chemicals plant at Shuratan, and developed plans for a plant producing liquid fuel from natural gas.
NBCentral Asia commentators say the unexpected release of this high-profile figure reflects the changed relationship between Uzbekistan and the West.
Tashkent has begun playing a more prominent role in the search for a resolution of the Afghan conflict, and this has made the leadership more self-confident and inclined to make changes in domestic policy, analysts argue. There is also more contact between the Uzbek authorities and western officials, who use meetings to raise human rights concerns and specifically the issue of political prisoners.
According to Nodira Khidoyatova, Tashkent-based coordinator of the Sunny Uzbekistan Coalition, Umarov’s release stems from the EU’s recent decision to lift the sanctions it imposed after Andijan. In justifying its decision, the EU said the human rights situation in Uzbekistan had improved.
“Efforts by western organisations and the progressive section of Uzbek society have had a result,” said Tashpulat Yoldashev, an Uzbek political analyst based abroad.
Yoldashov said that in return for substantial grants and loans from Europe and the US provided to modernise the transport network in Uzbekistan, President Islam Karimov was forced to fulfill commitments he had made.
“Without their efforts, Umarov would have spent a lot more time in prison,” he added.
(NBCentralAsia is an IWPR-funded project to create a multilingual news analysis and comment service for Central Asia, drawing on the expertise of a broad range of political observers across the region. The project ran from August 2006 to September 2007, covering all five regional states. With new funding, the service has resumed, covering Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.)
It was reported on November 7 that Sanjar Umarov, who heads the Sunny Coalition had been freed after spending four years in jail.
Human rights defenders at home and abroad had repeatedly written letters calling for his release.
“Our organisation monitored [actions taken towards] his release. When a European Commission visited Uzbekistan, we petitioned them repeatedly to secure his release,” said Surat Ikramov, who heads the Initiative Group of Independent Human Rights Defenders. “Other local human rights groups also called for his release. This may be the fruit of our efforts.”
Umarov’s colleagues and other commentators are convinced the charges on which he was convicted were fabricated for political reasons. When he was arrested in Tashkent in October 2005, he was accused of economic rather than political crimes – setting up an organised criminal group, large-scale embezzlement, forgery, and non-payment of taxes.
He was sentenced to 11 years in prison, later reduced to seven.
His arrest came soon after he set up the Sunny Uzbekistan Coalition and used an open letter to the Uzbek parliament as well as to the Russian and United States governments calling for an open investigation of the violence in Andijan in May 2005, when the government troops fired into a demonstration, killing and wounding hundreds of people.
He also called for a dialogue between the opposition and the authorities, and urged the latter to embark on market reforms and move away from the Soviet-style planned economy which he argued had brought the country to a standstill.
Prior to getting involved in politics, Umarov was a prominent businessman who set up Uzbekistan’s first mobile phone company, brought in US investment to build an oil refinery in Bukhara and a gas and chemicals plant at Shuratan, and developed plans for a plant producing liquid fuel from natural gas.
NBCentral Asia commentators say the unexpected release of this high-profile figure reflects the changed relationship between Uzbekistan and the West.
Tashkent has begun playing a more prominent role in the search for a resolution of the Afghan conflict, and this has made the leadership more self-confident and inclined to make changes in domestic policy, analysts argue. There is also more contact between the Uzbek authorities and western officials, who use meetings to raise human rights concerns and specifically the issue of political prisoners.
According to Nodira Khidoyatova, Tashkent-based coordinator of the Sunny Uzbekistan Coalition, Umarov’s release stems from the EU’s recent decision to lift the sanctions it imposed after Andijan. In justifying its decision, the EU said the human rights situation in Uzbekistan had improved.
“Efforts by western organisations and the progressive section of Uzbek society have had a result,” said Tashpulat Yoldashev, an Uzbek political analyst based abroad.
Yoldashov said that in return for substantial grants and loans from Europe and the US provided to modernise the transport network in Uzbekistan, President Islam Karimov was forced to fulfill commitments he had made.
“Without their efforts, Umarov would have spent a lot more time in prison,” he added.
(NBCentralAsia is an IWPR-funded project to create a multilingual news analysis and comment service for Central Asia, drawing on the expertise of a broad range of political observers across the region. The project ran from August 2006 to September 2007, covering all five regional states. With new funding, the service has resumed, covering Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.)
