On 25 April 2007, a court in Uzbekistan sentenced 40 year-old human rights defender, pathologist and mother of four, Gulbahor Turayeva, to six years in prison. She was charged with attempting to overthrow the constitutional system, slander and producing and distributing materials threatening public order Gulbahor Turayeva has been held in a National Security Service detention centre since her arrest on the Uzbek-Kyrgyz border on 14 January. Uzbek customs officers found press material published by the opposition Erk party in her bag. Gulbahor Turayeva’s house in Andijan was examined the same day as her arrest and her family were informed that a criminal case had been launched against her under Article 159 of the Criminal Code (attempting to overthrow the constitutional system). The chairman of the Erk party, Muhammad Solih, has said that he is very disappointed by what happened to Gulbahor Turayeva, but stressed that she is a human rights activist sympathising with opposition and sharing its views. Gulbahor Turayeva is a member of the nongovernmental organization Anima-kor, which works to protect the rights of medical doctors and their patients. She was among the human rights defenders who questioned the government version of the Andijan massacre of May 2005 and was involved in compiling an unofficial list of those killed. On May 27, 2005 Turaeva was detained and held in the Andijan prosecutor’s office for seventeen hours, where she was denied food and access to a lawyer. A prosecutor’s office official accused her of spreading lies about the Andijan killings and of “anti-constitutional activities.” The court took only three days to hear her case and issue this severe verdict. The ruling came two days after European Union foreign ministers in Luxembourg, called on the Uzbek authorities to start a result-oriented human rights dialogue with the EU as soon as possible. The timing and the harsh ruling illustrate the Uzbek authorities complete disregard and rejection of the international communities calls to cooperate and for improving on the countries human rights record.