Isroil Holdorov is an Erk activist who has been heading the party’s Andijon branch since 2003. In May of 2005, when it became clear that the Uzbek government intended to crack down on human rights and democracy activists after the Andijon uprising, he left Uzbekistan. In 2006, he returned to Andijon and reported to the police. He was just convicted of trying to overthrow the government, distributing materials that threaten the constitutional system, and illegally crossing the border and has been sentenced to six years in prison.
In many ways, this is an unremarkable case for Uzbekistan; just business as usual. However, I rather like his defense of his beliefs.
Isroil Holdorov said at the trial that he had been inspired by Islam Karimov’s books about democratic changes in the country at the time. He said that he did know that Karimov’s books were good only for being cited at government events once a year, but if people lived in line with them they could end up in prison.
I suppose that he forgot that Uzbekistan, like Russia, is one of those places where democracy means whatever the state says it does.
This post was written by...
Nathan Hamm – author of 2974 posts on Registan.net.
Nathan is the Founding Editor and Publisher of Registan.net, which he launched in 2003. He was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Uzbekistan 2000-2001 and received his MA in Central Asian Studies from the University of Washington in 2007. Since 2007, he has worked full-time as an analyst, consulting with private and government clients on Central Asian affairs, specializing in how socio-cultural and political factors shape risks and opportunities and how organizations can adjust their strategic and operational plans to account for these variables. Nathan is currently seeking research, analysis, and consulting opportunities. He can be contacted via Twitter or email.
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Does there seem to be an upsurge of arrests and prosecutions in the last couple of months? Readers are probably familiar with the sad case of Umida Niyazova. Presumably the leadership is more concerned by possible political instability around the succession issue than they are about European reaction to these trends. I’m afraid it shows that the EU’s attempt to reengage in the past few months was probably based on an overoptimistic view of the political situation.
It seems there has been a rise in the past few months. I believe you are more or less correct about the political calculus behind it, but I do think they worry about European reactions in general. They know though that this stuff probably won’t be noticed or remembered by EU bureaucrats.
Also, the EU attempt to reengage might as well be considered the German attempt to convince the EU to reengage. The Germans are, I am certain, well aware of what is going on, but for some reason still buying as proof of intent to improve the occasional government statements about hollow reforms.