Gay Uzbek Journalist Convicted of Sodomy
Associated Press, August 13, 2003
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20030813_1065.html
Gay Journalist in Uzbekistan Convicted of Sodomy, Bringing Scorn From
International Groups
TASHKENT, Uzbekistan—An openly gay Uzbek journalist
was found guilty of sodomy Wednesday in a trial that highlighted concerns
about media freedoms and pressure against homosexuals in this tightly
controlled Central Asian country.
International human rights and press groups immediately condemned the
conviction as politically motivated.
A Tashkent district court convicted Ruslan Sharipov, 25, of having
homosexual sex, having sex with minors and running a brothel and sentenced him
to 5 1/2 years in jail, said Matilda Bogner, a researcher for Human Rights
Watch, quoting Sharipov’s mother, Aza Sharipova.
Sharipov pleaded guilty and dismissed his lawyers at a hearing last week,
after earlier maintaining that he was innocent and the case fabricated. His
mother was the only outside observer allowed in the courtroom Wednesday when
the judge announced the punishment.
Court officials were not immediately reachable for further details.
Uzbekistan’s human rights record has attracted more international
attention since the country allowed U.S. troops to use a military base here.
The Uzbek government tolerates no dissent, and politically motivated
prosecution of journalists is common.
Sharipov, who leads an independent group that focuses on media freedom, has
repeatedly been detained, beaten and questioned by police. His case has also
brought to light the lesser-publicized issue of the rights of homosexuals.
Bogner said the conviction showed that “justice isn’t served in
Uzbekistan and the judiciary isn’t independent.”
The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission called for
Sharipov’s immediate release and the dismissal of all charges against him.
It said there was a serious danger that he was being mistreated in custody.
The group, based in San Francisco, said Sharipov had told those who had
visited him in jail that he had been subjected to “continued and escalating
beatings, threats of sexual violence and verbal abuse.”
The Paris-based media rights group, Reporters Without Borders, expressed
deep concern over Sharipov’s case and demanded that the charges be dropped.
“Everything indicates that Sharipov was arrested on false and sordid
pretenses designed to rid the authorities of a bothersome, dissident voice,”
the group’s secretary general, Robert Menard, said in a letter to Uzbek
President Islam Karimov.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch has also urged Sharipov’s release
and raised concerns that he was tortured to confess. A U.N. envoy who visited
Uzbekistan last year concluded that torture was systematic in the nation’s
jails.
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