Journalist Freed as Gift to EU
Journalist Freed as Gift to EU
The Uzbek authorities’ decision to release dissident journalist Ulugbek Haidarov the day their foreign minister held talks with European Union officials in Brussels was no coincidence, according to NBCentralAsia commentators.
The release was ordered by a judge on November 8, as Foreign Minister Vladimir Norov took part in a meeting between the European Council and an Uzbek delegation.
Haidarov, a journalist from Jizzakh region, was arrested on September 14, accused of “extortion”, and sentenced to over five years in prison.
He is now is free, but fellow-journalist Jamshid Karimov, who was also arrested in September, is still being forcibly confined in a psychiatric institution.
After the Uzbek government indicated it wanted to resume ties with the European Union, Brussels began considering whether to end the sanctions imposed on the country in November 2005 in condemnation of the violence in May that year, in which security forces shot hundreds of demonstrators in Andijan.
On November 13, a day before the sanctions expire, EU foreign ministers are expected to decide to extend them but to ease up on other measures taken against Uzbekistan.
Haidarov’s release can be seen as gift to German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who visited Tashkent at the beginning of November. Steinmeier met human rights activists ahead of his talks with President Karimov, and many observers interpreted this as an expression of concern at the human rights situation.
Uzbek human rights activist Bakhtior Hamraev believes the “amnesty” given to Haidarov is a product of a German-Uzbek deal to mitigate criticism of the Karimov administration and demonstrate a readiness to improve the human rights situation.
“Steinmeier wants to show that Karimov’s regime is improving the human rights situation,” said Hamraev. “It’s also good for Norov, who can now sit back in Brussels and tell his counterparts how things are getting better in his country.”
Hamraev regards this German policy as “a big mistake”, which will only repeat the sorry experience the United States had in negotiating with Uzbekistan without producing any progress.
Alisher Saipov, regional editor of the Ferghana.ru news agency, insisted the fact that Haidarov has been freed cannot and must not be seen as a sign the human rights situation is improving.
“Why are they still detaining the other prisoners convicted on similar fabricated charges?” asked Saipov.
He too argues that the Haidarov case has been used as a bargaining chip for Norov to take to Brussels and cash in as proof of progress when the sanctions are discussed.
NBCentralAsia’s Uzbekistan experts predict that there will be more of this kind of trading as long as President Karimov is in power. No world power is keen to walk away from energy-rich Central Asia, so the EU may just be prepared to accept such minimal concessions.
(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)
The release was ordered by a judge on November 8, as Foreign Minister Vladimir Norov took part in a meeting between the European Council and an Uzbek delegation.
Haidarov, a journalist from Jizzakh region, was arrested on September 14, accused of “extortion”, and sentenced to over five years in prison.
He is now is free, but fellow-journalist Jamshid Karimov, who was also arrested in September, is still being forcibly confined in a psychiatric institution.
After the Uzbek government indicated it wanted to resume ties with the European Union, Brussels began considering whether to end the sanctions imposed on the country in November 2005 in condemnation of the violence in May that year, in which security forces shot hundreds of demonstrators in Andijan.
On November 13, a day before the sanctions expire, EU foreign ministers are expected to decide to extend them but to ease up on other measures taken against Uzbekistan.
Haidarov’s release can be seen as gift to German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who visited Tashkent at the beginning of November. Steinmeier met human rights activists ahead of his talks with President Karimov, and many observers interpreted this as an expression of concern at the human rights situation.
Uzbek human rights activist Bakhtior Hamraev believes the “amnesty” given to Haidarov is a product of a German-Uzbek deal to mitigate criticism of the Karimov administration and demonstrate a readiness to improve the human rights situation.
“Steinmeier wants to show that Karimov’s regime is improving the human rights situation,” said Hamraev. “It’s also good for Norov, who can now sit back in Brussels and tell his counterparts how things are getting better in his country.”
Hamraev regards this German policy as “a big mistake”, which will only repeat the sorry experience the United States had in negotiating with Uzbekistan without producing any progress.
Alisher Saipov, regional editor of the Ferghana.ru news agency, insisted the fact that Haidarov has been freed cannot and must not be seen as a sign the human rights situation is improving.
“Why are they still detaining the other prisoners convicted on similar fabricated charges?” asked Saipov.
He too argues that the Haidarov case has been used as a bargaining chip for Norov to take to Brussels and cash in as proof of progress when the sanctions are discussed.
NBCentralAsia’s Uzbekistan experts predict that there will be more of this kind of trading as long as President Karimov is in power. No world power is keen to walk away from energy-rich Central Asia, so the EU may just be prepared to accept such minimal concessions.
(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)
