PROMINENT JOURNALIST FLEES UZBEKISTAN TO ESCAPE PERSECUTION
Josh Machleder: 8/8/01

Shukhrat Babadjanov, a prominent independent journalist in Uzbekistan, summoned to a criminal investigation brought by the state prosecutor, failed to show up for an August 6 appointment at the Tashkent prosecutor's offices. Sources say Babadjanov, fearing for his safety, fled Uzbekistan to escape government persecution.

Journalists who arrived at the State Prosecutor's offices August 6, upon noticing Babadjanov's failure to appear at the interrogation, were told by authorities that questioning had been postponed for one day. Officials said the distance between Tashkent and Babadjanov's native Urgench, in eastern Uzbekistan, could be responsible for a travel delay. But by the following morning, international media, in particular the British Broadcasting Corporation and Radio Liberty, reported that Babadjanov had fled the country.

Babadjanov, a respected painter as well as journalist, was charged with forgery of a letter of reference by the artist Ruzi Choriev for his application to the Union of Artists of Uzbekistan in the early 1990's. According to Babadjanov, Choriev himself asked him to write the reference letter because he didn't have a good command of the Uzbek language; however, he did sign the letter and endorsed Babadjanov's membership in the Union. Nevertheless, Babadjanov was dismissed from the Union in late May on grounds of not paying membership dues and non-attendance of exhibitions.

This is only the latest in a series of state actions against Babadjanov, who has recently been subject to heavy police surveillance in his neighborhood. However, he had seen this incident as particularly threatening in light of the recent fate of the Uighur writer Emin Usman, who earlier this year was dismissed from the Union of Writers of Uzbekistan one month before his detention and brutal death in prison, which remains, to this day, uninvestigated by authorities. Because of this recent parallel event, Babadjanov chose to escape rather than risk being arrested, detained and possibly killed in detention.

Independent journalists see this attack against Babadjanov as part of an overall strategy carried out by the Uzbek government to silence all perceived critics of official policy. This crackdown has gained momentum during the run-up to the September celebration of Uzbekistan’s 10^th anniversary of independence.

Though the repression of independent journalists has become routine in Uzbekistan, the

persecution of Babadjanov distinguishes itself, as Babadjanov was a high-profile journalist on whose behalf numerous international organizations and foreign embassies had lobbied, particularly in support of his tireless efforts to re-open his independent non-governmental TV station that had been closed by the Uzbek authorities.

The local government in November 1999 shut down Babadjanov’s Urgench-based independent television station, ALC-TV. Many independent journalists, human rights workers and international observers suspect that the closure was due to the station's tendency to broadcast hard-hitting journalism and independent-minded editorials. At the time of the closure, officials were concerned about news stories critical of the government prior to the January 2000 presidential and parliamentary elections. Local authorities closed the station despite protests from thousands of Urgench residents, as well as multiple appeals from international organizations to regional officials, and to President Islam Karimov.

Since the closure, Babadjanov repeatedly took legal action to obtain a broadcast license, making mass media history in Uzbekistan for being the first non-government TV station to sue authorities over licensing issues. The suit drew international attention to the government’s media crackdown.

However, in the last few months, authorities conducted a bureaucratic campaign to effectively drive the final nails into the station's coffin. On April 4, after nearly one and a half years of the station's non-operation, authorities seized the channel’s broadcast frequency, which remains

unused to this day. Months later, his application to broadcast was rejected even though it was received by the government-licensing agency several days before the frequency seizure. Officials rejected the application on the grounds that the station had no frequency to broadcast on.

In mid-July, Babadjanov finally received a response to his application that was submitted on March 27, even though Uzbek law stipulates that written responses to applications must be made within 30 days of receipt. Finally, a week before the recent charges were brought against him, he received a notice to vacate ALC's offices from the state-owned publishing building where it is housed. In the nearly two-year battle to reopen the ALC-TV station, Babadjanov had continually expressed his frustration with a regime that didn’t kill him, but didn’t let him live either.

Editor’s Note: Josh Machleder is the country director for Internews in Uzbekistan.

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Posted August 8, 2001 © Eurasianet
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