Uzbek Trial of Gay Journalist Reveals Civil Rights Abuses
The Advocate,
July 24, 2003
An independent journalist charged with sodomy in Uzbekistan went on trial
behind closed doors Wednesday in a case highlighting concerns about media
freedom and about pressure against gay men and lesbians in the tightly
controlled Central Asian country. The arrest and trial of Ruslan Sharipov, who
is openly gay, has been criticized by international human rights and press
groups. He has been imprisoned since his May 26 arrest and faces additional
charges of having sex with minors and managing prostitutes. In an open letter
from jail to President Bush, Sharipov said the added charges were fabricated
and that he was being threatened with torture to confess. Uzbekistan’s human
rights record has attracted more international attention since the country
allowed U.S. troops to use a military base there.
Sharipov on Wednesday demanded an open trial, but Judge Ganisher Makhmudov
said he wanted to protect the privacy of alleged victims in the case who are
minors. Matilda Bogner, a researcher for the international group Human Rights
Watch, said that by barring access to independent observers, authorities were
trying “to stop the case from being publicized and scrutinized.” The Uzbek
government tolerates no dissent and tightly controls the news media, 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 about his
journalism and human rights activities. Nazima Kamolova, one of his lawyers,
said in an interview that the charges were “directly linked to his
journalistic activities.” But Sharipov’s case has also brought to light
the lesser-publicized issue of the rights of sexual minorities. Of the 15
former Soviet republics, only Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan have
maintained Soviet-era laws against sex between adult men, according to the
International Lesbian and Gay Association. Uzbekistan’s law is in violation
of the International Convenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Uzbekistan
joined in 1995, Kamolova said. The U.N. Human Rights Committee in 1994
affirmed that the covenant protects the individual’s sexual orientation and
has also called on countries to do away with laws that punish adult consensual
gay sex.
Gays face regular police harassment in Uzbekistan, and establishments where
they meet are forced to close or are heavily monitored by police, said a few
gay men who spoke on condition that their full names wouldn’t be revealed.
Average citizens despise and ridicule them or, at best, simply ignore them,
the men said. “There is an unbridgeable gap between me and society,” said
Oleg, who gave only his first name. Publicly, homosexuality is never spoken
about; in private it’s mostly a source of squeamish jokes. Marat
Khodjimukhamedov, deputy head of the Ijtimoi Fikr opinion center, said almost
99% of people polled during a survey last year said they viewed sexual
minorities negatively. “People will not throw stones at a person if they
know he is gay, but they will avoid his company,” Khodjimukhamedov said.
“It’s a publicly condemned thing.” On the street, Oleg said police
routinely pick up gays, threaten them with prosecution, and extort anywhere
from US$10 to US$100 in bribes, depending on their victim’s social status.
“Cops like bribes, and homosexuals are easy to blackmail and rob,” said a
gay Western aid worker living in Tashkent. He said Uzbek authorities’
attitude to gays came down to a simple calculus: “Ignore it or exploit
it.”
[Home] [World] [Uzbekistan]
