Defector exposes Uzbek regime

A former Uzbek intelligence officer has revealed that President Islam Karimov personally ordered the Andijon massacre, conspired to cause the death of a UN development official and is involved in human trafficking.

Ikrom Yakubov, a former major in the Uzbek National Security Service (SNB), told RFE/RL that the regime was behind a plane crash that killed a UN development official in January 2004 itself; that it has itself maintained extremist groups and their leaders, including Tahir Yuldash, the purported leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, and Akram Yuldash, the ‘spiritual leader’ of Akramia, the group blamed for fomenting the protests in Andijon.

The regime is one of the world’s most oppressive, according to Freedom House rankings, and marked by the denial of citizen and civil society freedoms, as one recent account notes:

“.., there are severe restrictions on the freedom to associate and carry out civil society activities. NGOs must compulsorily register before being allowed to function. Permission to register is often subjectively denied, particularly to those organisations that are likely to offer independent views and legitimate criticism of official policies. For instance, pickets and demonstrations organised by the unregistered Human Rights Defenders Alliance of Uzbekistan in the last three years have been constantly disbanded by the police and national security service troops, followed by arrests and physical assaults on participants. After each weekly protest, these human rights defenders are detained for periods ranging from hours to several days. Their homes are under constant surveillance. Random searches and administrative penalties are routine occurrences. Aside from NGOs, faith-based groups and professional associations also undergo extensive scrutiny and harassment. Between 2003 to 2007, there were 300 confirmed closures of civil society organisations.”

As the NED report on the backlash against democracy assistance noted, under the guise of a crackdown on money laundering, the Uzbekistan government effectively stopped the transfer of foreign funds to Uzbek civil society groups. A resolution of the council of ministers requires NGOs to report activities to a “bank council” before releasing funds. The banking sector is so tightly controlled that it would be impossible to make these transfers.

In December 2003, the Uzbekistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) instructed the International Republican Institute to cease working with “illegal organizations,” meaning all unregistered political parties.  The country’s foreign minister personally accused the International Republican Institute (IRI) of promoting a coalition of “anti-government forces that wish to overthrow the constitutional order of Uzbekistan.”