Uzbek Reporter Given “Parody of Trial”

The trial of Voice of America reporter Abdumalik Boboev currently under way in Uzbekistan is a “parody”, a leading human rights defender says.

Boboev is charged with defamation, distributing material liable to endanger public security, and illegally crossing the border. (For background, see Voice of America Reporter Charged in Uzbekistan.)

Umida Niazova, a well-known human rights defender now living in Germany says the case bears all the hallmarks of a fabricated show-trial, and is remarkable similar to the way she herself was persecuted by the Uzbek authorities.

Niazova was given a seven-year prison term after being convicted of similar charges in 2007. She was released under amnesty a year later, and left the country.

IWPR asked Niazova to comment on the Boboev case, which she has been watching closely.

Umida Niazova: We’re now witness to a parody of a trial, with all the parts cast in advance and the verdict a foregone conclusion. Abdumalik Boboev will be found guilty; I have no doubt of that. It’s likely he won’t be imprisoned, though. All of us will breath a sigh of relief if that happens. It isn’t the judge who will decide what punishment is awarded; this will be done by those who have set this up. They have one aim in mind – to pressure professional journalists as a deterrent.

This trial is like the one I went through, the one difference being that Abdumalik is fortunately not being held in custody.

The charges are based on a report from the State Centre for Media Monitoring, part of the government’s communications agency. The report was written by Rustam Muhammedov, who produced a similarly infamous report about material found on my computer. [Editor’s note: that document alleged that Niazova’s laptop contained subversive and religious fundamentalist material.]

NBCentralAsia: What, in your view, are the chances of a journalist getting a fair trial in Uzbekistan?

Niazova: Zero chances. Political trials are devised in order to imprison, punish and intimidate. Justice and fairness are out of the question.

There are currently fewer than ten journalists who report things as they are in Uzbekistan; this in a country of 28 million people. Thanks to trials like this, the authorities have succeeded in cutting society off from objective news.

Muhammedov’s report, included in the indictment contains the following passage allegedly taken from documents in Boboev’s possession, but does not cite any source for it, “Uzbekistan is a country where freedom of speech is strictly limited, independent journalists are under pressure, television, radio and the press are under total control, and independent websites are blocked".

Paradoxically, Muhammedov’s report itself is tangible evidence of the truth of the comments he cites.

NBCentralAsia: You say there aren’t even ten journalists capable of reporting things as they really are. How great is the threat that the authorities will try to imprison the remainder, those who are still unafraid to write the truth?

Niazova: The indictment against Boboev states that this particular prosecution was originally part of a broader case “against several journalists in relation to the dissemination of materials in the media with the aim of creating panic in society". With similar prosecutions evidently planned against other reporters, the authorities seem determined to rid themselves of the few remaining journalists. There are a number of ways of doing that – when there’s justice system, it isn’t that difficult to condemn a journalist, activist, or in fact any independent-minded person, and silence everyone.

NBCentralAsia: What would happen if the authorities get rid of the remaining independent journalists?

Niazova: The country have no journalists, which means there would be less information coming out of Uzbekistan. There wouldn’t be a seismic shift, since the only independent media that cover Uzbekistan are internet-based.

I believe we need to adopt new approaches and look at the experience of [other] closed countries.

As long as the Uzbek authorities don't ban the internet, there will continue to be many avenues for accessing and distributing independent information.

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