Media Silence Over Tashkent Killer

A string of murders and rapes of young girls in the Uzbek capital Tashkent has gone unreported by the country’s restricted state-run media, so that news is replaced by fearful rumours.

Since the attacks began in early January, 11-year-old Shirin Abbasova and nine-year-old Kamila Umarova have been raped and strangled, according to Tashkent police. Two other girls of a similar age were also raped, though they survived the attacks. Their names have not been released.

Police believe the assaults are connected, saying although the assailant leaves few clues behind, all the crimes were committed on the roofs of apartment buildings. Shirin’s body was found on a roof, while Kamila was left on a landing leading to one.

Investigators are still unsure whether they’re looking for an individual or more than one person and have posted photographs of four suspects in schools and apartment blocks.

Parents have been told to accompany their children to school, collect them after classes and prevent them from walking outside alone.

Usen Askarov, a journalist and father of four, said his children’s school asked him to sign a statement promising to take responsibility for their safety after lessons. Other parents wrote similar statements.

Askarov is glad he was informed of the danger, saying it would help him keep his children safe. However, other Tashkent residents are unaware of a possible serial killer in their midst. Many dismiss the reports as untrue.

“I think that these rumours were spread deliberately so that everyone would stay at home and [only] go out to vote,” said a woman who gave her name as Irina. Parliamentary elections were recently held in Uzbekistan.

To date, no Tashkent media outlet has reported on the killings, and no city official has commented publicly or warned residents they may be in danger.

The head of the press-service at the national prosecutor’s office, Svetlana Artykova, said news about the serial killer could cause panic.

“All this information is currently secret,” she said. “Premature reports about the investigation could hamper the capture of the criminal. We have put up posters in all schools and kindergartens calling on people to be watchful. All public places are being monitored. But it is too early for the media to report on these tragic cases. We will inform the population when the crime is solved.”

Rustam, who lives in the building in the Yunasabad district where Shirin Abbasova was murdered, said only locals know what happened to the young girl. In other districts, there are rumours she was killed by a boy who was in love with her, or by a vampire.

He is surprised and angered by the silence of the local press, which could have quashed the rumours by providing accurate information, and most importantly warned the general public. “I don’t understand why the press doesn’t report this. Are the journalists on the side of the criminals?” he asked.

Law enforcement officials also criticised Tashkent’s journalists. A police officer who gave his name as Rinat said news stories on the crimes could help mobilise the public and help police find the killer.

Volodya Ivanov, a resident of Yunusabad, points out in many countries that when a child is killed or a serial killer is on the loose, it is major news.

“Two years ago, when a sniper was killing people in the United States, we got this news every day in Tashkent. The media mobilised people and eventually helped to arrest the criminal. Now we have to live on rumours and gossip, because our journalists are silent,” said Ivanov.

A former correspondent for the national news agency UzA, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said strict state control of the news media has killed off initiative among many Uzbek journalists, saying many wait to be given a command before acting and have no “nose for news”. Journalists also lack the professionalism to act independently and dig out information, he said.

Many reporters said they themselves have no idea what is going on.

“We publish reports about criminals or criminals only when they are given to us by the press-service of the interior ministry. For some reason, we have not been informed about these incidents yet,” said Yanus Buranov from the national newspaper Narodnoye Slovo.

He maintains that reporting the killings could be harmful as it would cause panic, and insisted his paper would only go public on the story when the law-enforcement authorities gave the go-ahead.

Bobur Alikhanov, director of the Akhborot news programme on the main TV channel, reacted defensively when he was asked why there were no stories about the children’s’ deaths on television news. “Akhborot is not the gutter press which reports on rumours,” he said. He refused to talk further and hung up the phone.

Yusuf Rasulov is an IWPR contributor in Tashkent.