Top opposition leader convicted, US NGO barred

An Uzbek court convicted top opposition leader Sanjar Umarov to more than 10 years in prison on Monday for economic crimes at a trial in the capital denounced by rights groups and the opposition as being politically motivated. At the same time, another Uzbek court ruled that a US-based NGO, Freedom House, must close its doors and leave the Central Asian country. “Sanjar Umarov headed an organised criminal group and created several offshore companies to commit economic crimes that caused very serious damage to the state’s interests,” Judge Zokirjon Isaev said, reading the verdict. The court also imposed a fine of more than US $8 million and banned him from pursuing any business activity in Uzbekistan for three years following his release. Umarov claims he is innocent of all the charges. Vitaly Krasilovsky, Umarov’s defence lawyer said they will appeal against the sentence. "We will appeal the verdict and I think that Umarov's guilt was not proven on any of the charges," Krasilovsky said. The charges against Umarov, which include embezzlement, hiding foreign currency, tax avoidance and bribery, were linked to his exportation of Uzbek oil to Afghanistan, Tajikistan and other countries through offshore companies allegedly controlled by him. The defence has pointed out that Umarov, founder of the opposition Sunshine Coalition, had no controlling interest or management responsibility in any of the companies and could therefore not be held accountable for them. Prosecutors had asked for 18 years in jail for the opposition leader who was arrested in October 2005 following his return from the United States, where he has business and family links. Umarov has maintained that the case against him was fabricated and politically motivated, adding that he had been intimated and threatened in order to sign confessions to the economic charges. The Sunshine Coalition gained prominence following the crushing of an uprising in the eastern Uzbek city of Andijan on 13 May in which over 1,000 civilians may have been killed by security forces, according to some rights activists. Tashkent contends the uprising was orchestrated by Islamic extremists, and puts the death toll at 187. Umarov projected himself as a moderate, reform-minded alternative to the government of Uzbek President Islam Karimov and called for immediate changes to boost economic development. On 1 March the same court sentenced Nodira Hidoyatova, a coordinator of the Sunshine Uzbekistan Coalition, to 10 years in prison after finding her guilty on seven economic charges, including tax evasion, money laundering and hiding foreign currency. Hidoyatova was arrested in December following a trip to Moscow, where she was critical of Uzbek government policy during public appearances. In February, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that cases against Hidoyatova and Umarov were clearly politically motivated. Also on Monday, another Uzbek court ordered the closure of the US-funded NGO Freedom House, the latest foreign aid organisation to be banned in the authoritarian ex-Soviet state “Freedom House was already considering voluntarily closing down its office in Uzbekistan following the series of charges against us that started last September,” Branka Sesto, Freedom House's director, told IRIN. In January, authorities ordered the group to suspend operations for offering free Internet access to Uzbeks and for hosting several unregistered organisations, including human rights defenders and political parties, at various events.