Human Rights House Foundation supports the appeal of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee appeals to the Uzbek president where it calles for impartial investigation of the events in Andijan and other cities of Eastern Uzbekistan. International PEN and Amnesty International strongly condemn the reported use of excessive force against civilians on 13 of May. Many Azeri human rights organizations have signed a letter to the international community to put the situation on the agenda. (19-MAY-05).
According to media reports, several hundred civilians were killed when Uzbeki troops opened fire on a crowd of demonstrators on the Babur Square of the city in Andijan in the evening of 13 May. – According to our view, no responsible state authorities can accept such events to happen without consequently ensuring that genuine investigations take place, states the The Norwegian Helsinki Committee in the letter to the president Islam Karimov.
International investigation
-Since Uzbek state structures are strongly involved in the events, there should be a strong international component of these investigations (…)These experts should be given unhindered access to relevant sources of information and to question witnesses, reads the letter. The Commitee also reminds the Uzbek government that national judicial authorities in other countries may hold persons accountable for systematic attack directed against civilian population according to international law.
International PEN fears for the welfare of writers
Amnesty International is greatly concerned that the Uzbekistani authorities will use the events in Andizhan to justify a further clampdown on dissent and freedom of expression in Uzbekistan and that this will lead to waves of arbitrary arrests nationwide in the name of “national security” and the “war against terror”.
International PEN, the world association of writers, is alarmed of the events in Uzbekistan and calls for a lifting of the clamp down on the media reporting from cities affected by unrest, and urges that there be no further killings. It fears for the welfare of writers and journalists who are imprisoned in Uzbekistan and reiterates calls that they be freed.
Azeri NGOs signed appeal to the international community
Many Azeri Human Rights organisations have signed a letter from the Network of the Center for Pluralism in Kyrgystan where they states that they are outraged by the recent events in Uzbekistan and by the lack of adequate response from the democratic countries.The organistions from all the former Soviet states appeal to President Bush to give credibility to his words and denounce the Uzbek dictatorship- U.S. cannot be a partner, or a friend of a cruel dictatorship, the letter says. The letter also asks OSCE to send observers immediately to the towns and cities of the Fergana Valley, to the border crossings between Uzbekistan and Kyrgystan and to Tashkent and larger cities were peaceful demonstrations against the bloody government response are forced down by the security services.
Background from Amnesty International
During the night of 12-13 May 2005, a group of unidentified armed men broke into the jail of the city of Andizhan, reportedly freeing everyone inside – an estimated 1,200 men. Later in the day soldiers were reported to have surrounded a crowd of several thousand protestors on the city’s main square, demanding justice, freedom and an end to poverty. There were reports that gunfire was exchanged between armed men and soldiers and shots were apparently fired into the crowd. Reports as to what triggered the events in Andizhan are confusing but may have been linked to the trial of 23 local businessmen accused of “Islamic extremism”. For the last week up to a thousand relatives and supporters of the 23 men, who deny any connection to banned Islamic groups, have held unprecedented peaceful sit-down vigils outside the court building to protest the men´s innocence and denounce the torture they allegedly suffered.
