Tajik journalist Shuhrat Shodiev Pardoned in Uzbekistan
Shuhrat Shodiev, a journalist from Tajikistan was set free on September 7 under an amnesty announced by the president Islam Karimov commemorating the anniversary of Uzbekistan’s independence. Shuhrat Shodiev was arrested earlier on August 6 by Uzbek authorities at the frontier post between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
36 –year old Shuhrat Shodiev who earlier cooperated with the information agency Asia Plus and Ferghana.ru was taken off the train heading to Tajikistan at the frontier post between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan on suspicion of importation of weapons and prohibited literature into the country. In his bag they found Tajik newspapers, Koran in Russian (translated by Krachkovskiy), several books bought at the central library in Grozniy (he was returning from the capital of Chechnya), his own articles, discs with Chechen songs and an air pistol – a present for his son as the journalist claimed. (Later a batch of leaflets was added to contents of his bag and included in the list of things found with Shodiev. However the journalist refused to sign it and kept his list).
The journalist told Ferghana.ru that his baggage arrived at the Uzbek border before he did. When he was about to start his journey home a friend of his whom he did not manage to meet during his stay in Chechnya called and asked him to return. At the frontier Aksaraysk station having his baggage checked by the border guards Shuhrat left his bag to conductors and asked them to see it delivered to Dushanbe and handed over to his brother and got off the train to return to Grozniy. Later on the same day he left for Tajikistan again.
“To save time, I took a taxi to Baku and then flied to Aktau, a town in Kazakhstan. I did not even think of my baggage as my brother would take care of it in Dushanbe”- the journalist recalls. “In Deyneu I bought a ticket to Dushanbe and got on the train. At the Uzbek border, at Karakalpakiya station one of Uzbek border guard asked me to repeat my name. Then he asked whether I was a journalist. Having heard “yes” in response he twisted my arms and dragged me to the border detachment as if I were a criminal. He reported to his commander that I was the journalist they were looking for. Later I was told that the conductors who were taking my bag to Dushanbe were arrested, and sent to investigatory isolation ward of the National Security Service of Uzbekistan.
The next day Shodiev was taken to a place like a military unit located near the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Karakalpakstan – Nukus. There he was interrogated by strangers in civvies. Shuhrat says intense pressure was exerted upon him during the interrogations.
“They wanted to know about everything: all the way from details of my personal life to my personal attitude towards global problems” – says Sh.Shodiev. “When they found my ID of Ferghana.ru’s correspondent they questioned me in detail-what is it, who work there, how they look and etc. Interrogators remained strangers, none introduced himself. Hours long examinations tired me to death. I went on hunger strike and insisted on having a meeting with the Tajik consul and the conductors who had been arrested earlier. When my condition worsened they brought me to Nukus and released from custody. However, they kept all my documents and lodged me in a private house where two conductors were also moved to a little earlier from the investigatory isolation ward of the NSS. On August 12 I was placed to detention centre in Kungrad and on August 14 sent to one of the strictest jails of Uzbekistan – investigatory isolation facility # 9 following the resolution of the Priaralskiy transport public prosecutor’s office. I stayed there up until my release. I have seen all sorts of things there… There was even a day when in despair I tried to cut my veins… Nowhere else have I seen the unlawfulness as that in Karakalpakstan.
Sh.Shodiev would be charged with “Smuggling”, Article 246 of the Criminal Code of Uzbekistan. This criminal article threatened Shuhrat with five to ten years of imprisonment. Fortunately the amnesty commemorating the 18th anniversary of Uzbekistan’s independence was announced. Among other categories the list of people to be pardoned also included foreign citizens.
When seeing off Shuhrat Shodiev to Dushanbe, the police returned him only his clothes. Everything else – literature, dictaphone, music discs, presents, money – was retained as real evidence by the investigator O.Mustanov who was in charge of the journalist’s case. Moreover, the chairman of Kungrad district court tried to impose a 1000 USD fine on Shuhrat allegedly “for release”. The journalist refused to pay. Before the departure he was beaten up for not making way for some militia official. Still in the internal affaires unit area someone has stolen some of his documents, including indictment. Shuhrat does not feel well yet, but he is happy to be free and describes his stay in Uzbekistan as “pure hell”.
