Activists react to journalist's conviction

Human rights activists in Uzbekistan have expressed varying views on the conviction on Wednesday of Ruslan Sharipov, an openly gay Uzbek journalist. While some of them said that the trial had been politically motivated, others believed that he had been convicted according to the law. "It is a political case," Vasilya Inoyatova, the head of the E'zgulik Human-Rights Society of Uzbekistan, told IRIN from the capital, Tashkent. She noted that whereas he had been charged with sodomy, the article concerning this offence was rarely acted upon in the country, and if the authorities considered that they could charge someone with sodomy, then many people in Uzbekistan could be brought to court on the same charge. So, although he had broken Uzbek law, she felt the authorities were going too far. "This is simply the vengeance of the police," she asserted, adding that the police had taken revenge on him for his critical publications. But Mikhail Ardzinov, the head of the Independent Human Rights Organisation of Uzbekistan, disagreed, saying that Sharipov had been convicted accordance to the law. "I think that he was tried right," he told IRIN from Tashkent. Meanwhile, Matilda Bogner, the office director for Human Rights Watch (HRW) in Uzbekistan, expressed concern over the issue. "I view this trial as just being a way of stopping him [Sharipov] from continuing his human rights and journalistic activities," she told IRIN from the capital. She went on to say that the activist had been harassed constantly over the past two years by the police and other law-enforcement authorities because of his publications, which were very critical of the Uzbek authorities, particularly of the police and the way they carried out their duties in the country. Bogner also said that Sharipov had told her shortly after his arrest that police had threatened and hit him. He had strongly rejected the allegations against him, saying that they were fabricated. He had maintained that position until 8 August when he made a statement in court that he would admit to the charges and apologise to the president for the critical articles that he had written since 2001, she added. According to HRW, the trial was held behind closed doors, and Sharipov's mother had been the only observer allowed in. "Given the history of the case, it really raises severe concerns that Ruslan Sharipov has been subjected to further torture, further threats that have forced him to plead guilty in these circumstances," she added. Sharipov had been charged with homosexuality (article 120), having sexual relations with minors (articles 127 and 128) and sentenced to five and a half years of imprisonment. Bogner said the proceedings and their result had clearly breached international standards. "It is a political trial, but it also is a trial which seeks to discriminate against homosexuals, and charging somebody under that article clear discrimination and a breach of privacy," she asserted. Twenty-five-year-old Sharipov was arrested by Tashkent police on 26 May on charges of homosexual conduct. Article 120 derives from a provision banning male homosexual conduct that was introduced under Soviet law during the time of the dictator, Joseph Stalin. Most successor states of the Soviet Union have repealed this provision. Only Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan are known to retain it.