A court in Tashkent has ordered one of Uzbekistan’s few privately owned newspapers to close, accusing it of undermining the nation’s moral values.
The silencing of the Noviy Vek weekly is the latest blow to the beleaguered media in Uzbekistan, which watchdogs single out as having one of the world’s worst press-freedom records.
“The newspaper was closed down” by court order, Shakhriyor Mansurov, a spokesman for the government’s Agency for Press and Information – which brought the case – confirmed to EurasiaNet.org on May 21, the day after the ruling.
Noviy Vek could not be reached for comment, its telephones going unanswered on May 21. Its website was updated on May 21, but did not mention the case against the newspaper (which is published in print every Thursday).
Mansurov said he was unable to provide any background details to the case. But the Uzmetronom.com website – the only Uzbekistani-based outlet to mention the trial – reported that the government agency had accused Noviy Vek of publishing material “contradicting principles of moral development, shaping an incorrect notion of the socio-political situation in the country, and causing detriment to traditional values.”
The Agency for Press and Information, which had found these alleged violations in the Russian-language newspaper’s reporting, refused to hold the trial in Russian (as the defense had wished) on the grounds that its officials could not speak Russian, Uzmetronom.com said.
The prosecution argued that the newspaper should be closed for telling risqué jokes and using the word “sexual,” Uzmetronom.com reported. That prompted the defense to argue that if this word is banned in Uzbekistan all dictionaries should be removed from bookshops’ shelves.
Noviy Vek was reportedly accused of dropping “sarcastic hints” about corruption in jokes, such as one about government attempts to streamline bureaucracy making it easier to pay bribes.
The paper seems to have ruffled feathers and made powerful enemies. The charge sheet noted that the paper had named a police officer allegedly involved in a hit-and-run traffic accident while drunk.
Uzbekistan’s first private newspaper after independence, Noviy Vek stood out among the tightly censored Uzbekistan media (which is full of identically worded reports about government meetings and cultural events) for reporting that did not always toe the party line. While not exactly hard-hitting, the paper was renowned for going out on a limb to tackle sensitive issues such as socioeconomic grievances, corruption and abuse of power.
Tashkent often talks up the need to safeguard the nation’s moral wellbeing and guard against the influence of decadent Western values, previously taking aim at Valentine’s Day, Santa Claus and rap music.
Uzbekistan always languishes at the bottom of global press freedom rankings: It placed 166th out of 180 countries in the 2015 World Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders last month.
Joanna Lillis is a journalist based in Almaty and author of Dark Shadows: Inside the Secret World of Kazakhstan.
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