Uzbekistan: Another imprisoned human rights activist is given free pardon
Bobomurad Mavljanov, 62, was given a free pardon within the framework of the amnesty proclaimed on the 15th anniversary of the Constitution of Uzbekistan. Imprisoned in a jail in the Kattakurgan district near Samarkand, Mavljanov said he had never expected it.
Mavljanov was accused of some minor infraction shortly before the news reached him. "When your slate isn't clean, you cannot even dream of free pardon." he said. "When they were escorting me to the chief warden, I thought it was in connection with this infraction." Mavljanov said the prison administration never explained why they were letting him go. "I'd say it's because of the thaw in the relations with the West, questionable as it is," the human rights activist said.
Convicted for financial fraud and sentenced to five years behind the bars in October 2005, Mavljanov served two years and four months. Imprisonment affected his general state of health but the human rights activist denies any mistreatment.
"They treated me properly. They never had me beaten or harassed, and talked politely," Mavljanov said. "After all, I had never worked against the authorities or been in the opposition. I always cooperated with law enforcement agencies."
No information is available on the lot of some other human rights activists and opposition activists. Murod Jurayev, deputy of the first parliament of Uzbekistan and one of the leaders of Erk [Freedom], is one of them. Erk activists say Jurayev was given free pardon too but never came home. Tried as organizer of an extremist group intent on toppling the regime, Jurayev has been in jail since 1994.
Release of Sunny Opposition leader Sanjar Umarov is also questionable. Sources close to the Umarovs say that he was granted free pardon too on the condition that he would leave the country immediately.
Human rights activist Karim Bozorboyev, the son of a prominent human rights activist Ihtijer Hamrayev, Society Appeal leader Sadjahon Zainabiddinov, and human rights activist and journalist Umida Niyazova were released from jail and amnestied in Uzbekistan in 2008. The amnesty expires on February 29. Dozens human rights activists and opposition leaders remain in jails throughout Uzbekistan whose regime the West condemns for human rights abuses.
Voice of Freedom (Tashkent, Uzbekistan). Translated by Ferghana.Ru