Professional Background
Journalist Yusif Ruzimuradov wrote extensively for Erk ("Freedom"), the newspaper of Uzbekistan's first official opposition party, after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. After the 1991 election brought Islam Karimov to power, Erk served as the primary forum of written dissent against his government. While President Karimov's policies aimed at limiting democratic development and at silencing criticism by hounding journalists and their families, Ruzimuradov continued to contribute regularly to Erk and to support the Erk party. The refusal of Ruzimuradov and his fellow journalists to be intimidated led Karimov finally to ban Erk and the Erk party in 1994.
Current Status
Recent developments have generated considerable fear for Ruzimuradov's physical and psychological well-being. In a statement signed by Ruzimuradov and five others associated with the Erk arrests, the journalists allege that, during their pretrial detention, they had been suffocated, beaten with rubber truncheons and plastic bottles filled with water, and given electric shocks.
Following his conviction, Ruzimuradov was transferred from Tashkent City Prison to "strict-regime" Penal Colony 64/33, near the village of Shakhali in southern Uzbekistan. While exact details of his physical state are unknown, there are reports that Ruzimuradov's health is deteriorating as a result of the appalling conditions at this prison camp.
PEN considers Yusif Ruzimuradov to be detained solely for exercising his right to free expression as guaranteed by Articles 19 and 22 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and is calling for his immediate and unconditional release. |
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Case History
Ruzimuradov, along with Muhammad Bekjanov (also a PEN Honorary Member) and others, fled to the Ukraine following the banning of Erk and the Erk party in 1994. Erk continued as an underground opposition movement through the 1990s. In 1999, a series of explosions in the Uzbek capital Tashkent was blamed on Erk, and President Karimov ordered all members associated with the opposition to be arrested. Ruzimuradov was arrested in Kiev on March 15, 1999, and extradited to Uzbekistan. It is suspected that Ruzimuradov's arrest resulted from his position as a former Erk journalist.
On August 18 of the same year, at a trial in which much of the testimony was extracted under torture, Ruzimuradov was convicted of "attempting to overthrow the government by force," "membership of an illegal organization," and "slander" of the Uzbek president. He was sentenced to eight years in prison. According to a written statement released by Reporters sans Frontières on January 18, 2003, violent threats were made against members of his family, and torture and psychological incentives were used to obtain his "confession." |
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