Prison Time Cut for Uzbek Journalist
The Advocate,
September 27, 2003
An Uzbek appeals court reduced the sentence Thursday of a gay journalist
convicted of having homosexual sex, from 5 1/2 years to four years, in a case
that has drawn international criticism from human rights groups. Ruslan
Sharipov was convicted last month of having homosexual sex—illegal in
Uzbekistan under laws still on the books from Soviet times—and also of
having sex with minors and attracting minors to antisocial activity. In a
closed hearing the Uzbek city court removed the last charge against Sharipov
and reduced his sentence, said Surat Ikramov, a human rights activist who is
on Sharipov’s defense team. The journalist still plans to appeal his case to
Uzbekistan’s high court, Ikramov said.
At his trial, Sharipov maintained his innocence but then abruptly pleaded
guilty and dismissed his lawyers. In a letter to U.N. secretary-general Kofi
Annan, he alleged that he had been tortured into confessing his guilt and that
police forced him to write a suicide note and threatened to kill him if he
fought the charges.
A U.N. envoy visited Uzbekistan last year after strong international
pressure, led by the United States, which has become a strategic partner of
the Central Asian nation in the war in neighboring Afghanistan. The envoy
found “systematic” evidence of torture in Uzbek prisons. The Uzbek
government is working on a response to the U.N. envoy and has acknowledged
some cases of torture but denied the problem is as widespread as the report
claimed.
The Sharipov case has drawn the attention of international media and human
rights groups who say authorities brought the charges because of the
journalist’s criticism of the government.
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