On April 8, in the city of Fergana, the journalist of online media Effect.uz Elerbek Tadjibaev was detained and forcibly taken to Surkhandarya region by the employees of the District Department of Internal Affairs of Denau. In the afternoon, his colleague Akbar Nurimbetov was detained. He was driving his car to Surkhandarya from Navoi, where he had covered another trial the day before.
A press release, issued by the Prosecutor General’s Office on April 6, spoke of the accusation in absentia of resisting a representative of the authorities and interfering with the investigation. A criminal case was opened after the incident in the District Court of Termez. Two videos about the squabble between the correspondents and the judge received over 800 thousand views.
The Prosecutor’s Office of Termez district of Surkhandarya region conducted a pre-investigation check of the incident and opened a criminal case under the articles 236 (“Interference in the investigation or resolution of court cases) and 219 (“Resistance to a representative of the authorities or a person performing a civil duty”) of the Criminal Code. The investigation is being conducted by the Prosecutor’s Office of Surkhandarya region.
The Prosecutor General’s Office accused the journalists “of evading appearance for unknown reasons, although they were officially summoned to the investigative agency many times”.
The head of Effect.uz Akmalkhon Eshonkhonov asserts that Akbar Nurimbetov, only on March 30, received the summons to arrive at the Prosecutor’s Office on March 23, which was sent… on March 23.
Elerbek Tadjibaev explains the situation that the summons was sent to him at his work address, which he found out very late.
“Procedurally, let’s say, they did the right thing by sending the summons to the work address, but I’m undergoing treatment at home, in Fergana,” the journalist noted. “I contacted the relevant authorities on the spot. The administration of our news agency sent [to the Prosecutor’s Office of Surkhandarya] an official explanation on this matter, and my lawyer also sent the necessary documents and clarifications.”
The editorial board promptly notified the law enforcement agency that Elerbek was sick with COVID-19, had been in quarantine since April 3, and had previously answered questions of the law enforcement officers.
An ACCA source noted that the affected judicial bureaucracy and the apparent desire of the security officials to punish journalists are clearly related to their position in the case of the blogger from Surkhandarya Otabek Sattoriy.
“Effect.uz is confident that if they don’t try to protect the blogger, then they themselves will be the next victims of arbitrariness,” the source said.
As the ACCA previously wrote, in the media and blogosphere of Uzbekistan, the case of the provincial blogger Sattoriy is considered as a warning. Otabek criticized the local authorities, always emphasizing his patriotism and dissatisfaction of the regime by the foreign critics. At the suggestion of the official Tashkent, the local authorities organized a show trial in order to intimidate even the capital’s journalists and bloggers, burdened with self-censorship, whose publications and posts on social networks raise the degree of public discontent with the actions of officials.
After another trial of Sattoriy on April 2, a blogger from Termez, Behruz Nematov, was literally kidnapped in broad daylight on the street by unknown assailants.
“I don’t even know who were the people, who having pulled a blindfold over my eyes, took me away in an unknown direction. I don’t know where they brought me, but it was a scary place. They kept me there for 4 hours, beat me with a rubber truncheon on my back and legs, demanding that I refuse further participation in the trial of Otabek,” the source of the independent online media “Asiaterra” quotes Nematov’s words.
On that day, the local law enforcement officers visited the residents of Uchkizil district in Termez, who demanded the release of the illegally detained Sattoriy on social networks. In a threatening tone, they were told, “The next time, austerity measures will be taken [against you].”
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