Uzbek opposition activist sentenced to 10 years in prison

A prominent Uzbek opposition activist sentenced to 10 years in prison for alleged economic crimes walked free Tuesday with a suspended seven-year sentence after paying US$100,000 (77,900) in compensation. Nodira Khidoyatova, of the Sunshine Uzbekistan opposition group, was released following a retrial at a criminal court in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent, after judge Akhror Kodyrov reduced her sentence and ordered her to be set free in the courtroom.

Photo: Uzbek opposition activist sentenced to 10 years in prison

"Khidoyatova's guilt has been proven beyond doubt, but since she is a mother of two underage children, the court sentences her to a suspended term of seven years with a three year probation," the judge said. Khidoyatova, clad in a white shirt and black jeans, stepped out of the cage and hurried to hug her 4-year-old son and 15-year-old daughter.

Khidoyatova was sentenced in early March for tax evasion and membership in a criminal group, while the Sunshine's chairman Sanjar Umarov was imprisoned for eight years on similar charges. Both insisted the charges were a trumped-up response to their political activities in what is seen as one of the most repressive Central Asian nations.

Their group vocally criticized the violent suppression of May 2005 protests in the eastern city of Andijan, where rights groups say troops fired on unarmed protesters, killing as many as 700 people. The government says 187 people died, and blamed Islamic extremists for instigating the violence. "Of course she is not guilty, and we will protest her sentence in the economic court," Khidoyatova's sister and Sunshine coordinator Nigara Khidoyatova said after the trial.

She said the family already had paid almost US$100,000 (77,900) to compensate the damages Khidoyatova's alleged crimes incurred, and is obliged to pay another US$125,000 (97,000). The Sunshine group counts about 100 people as members and was formed in April 2005 in the wake of the uprising in neighboring Kyrgyzstan, when demonstrators ousted authoritarian President Askar Akayev.

After the Andijan violence, the government began a harsh crackdown on opposition groups, rights defenders and dissidents, driving out foreign aid organizations. President Islam Karimov, a former Communist functionary, has ruled the California-sized, ex-Soviet nation for 17 years with an iron hand. Meanwhile, a prominent rights defender will face trial for alleged extortion, the Uzbek Interior Ministry said Tuesday.

Azam Farmonov, who heads the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan in the central region of Jizzak, "partially acknowledged his guilt," ministry spokesman Alisher Sharipov said in a statement posted on a government Web site. Farmonov was arrested earlier this month for trying to extort money from a local official, the ministry said, while his colleagues insist the arrest was punishment for his article, "Farmers from Hell," which argued that the government has violated the rights of cotton growers in the Jizzak region. Uzbekistan is one of the world's largest producers of cotton. Authorities force most farmers to grow cotton and sell it to the state at a fixed price, reports the AP.

N.U.