Rights group condemns court decision

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Friday condemned the decision of the Supreme Court of Uzbekistan to convict 12 men, nine of whom were tried ‘in absentia’, on terrorism and other anti-state charges. The court sentenced exiled opposition leader Muhammad Solih and nine other defendants to lengthy prison terms on charges of terrorism and other crimes, and sentenced two accused militants to death. Solih, head of the Erk (Freedom) political party, was the only genuine candidate to challenge Uzbek President Islam Karimov in the presidential elections of 1991, and has been in exile since 1994, when he fled arrest. “Accusing the democratic opposition of violent crimes is a favored tactic of Uzbekistan’s authoritarian government,” said Rachel Denber, acting executive director of the Europe and Central Asia Division of Human Rights Watch, in Friday’s press release. “These political show trials are only part of the Uzbek government’s appalling human rights record,” she added. According to Human Rights Watch, trials ‘in absentia’ violate international law, which stipulates that a defendant should be present at his own trial.