Uzbek Human Rights Activist Loses Libel Case

Surat Ikramov, leader of the Initiative Group of Independent Human Rights Defenders in Uzbekistan, has been fined and ordered to publish a retraction after losing a libel case that observers said was politically-motivated.

A civil court in the capital Tashkent imposed the penalties on September 28 after upholding some of the libel charges levelled against Ikramov. The fine was the equivalent of 50 US dollars.

The plaintiffs were Atanazar Khudoibergenov and his wife Rene Metmuradova, who worked as a nanny for Dilnura Qodirjonova, a prominent Uzbek singer who died in 2007.

Ikramov has been acting for the late singers’ parents, who dispute the official story that she committed suicide by hanging.

The lawsuit centred on a statement published by Ikramov’s group in 2008, which said the cause of Qodirjonova’s death remained unclear, and questioned a decision to grant custody of her daughters to the nanny rather than to her parents.

The court found that the description of Metmuradova as a “complete stranger”, in the context of her appointment as foster-parent, was defamatory.

Speaking as the court case got under way in August, Ikramov accused the Uzbek government of engineering the lawsuit as a way of getting at him indirectly.

Ikramov believes the Uzbek government has engineered the lawsuit as a way of getting at him indirectly.

“There’s a third party behind the lawsuit, individuals from the interior ministry,” he said. “I am certain they are hoping the legal action will kill two birds with one stone – deflect attention from the murder of Dilnura Qodirjonova, and intimidate me and other human rights defenders in Uzbekistan.”

Observers have questioned judges’ decision to conduct the court proceedings in camera, apart from one initial hearing.

"In contravention of the Criminal Procedural Code, Judge Bahrom Faiziev did not explain his motive for taking this decision," a local reporter monitoring the trial said. "The decision was clearly taken to remove observers, who would have immediately noted that proceedings were being orchestrated.”

This article was produced as part of IWPR’s News Briefing Central Asia output, funded by the National Endowment for Democracy.