Front Line welcomes reports that Yadgar Turlibekov, a prominent human rights defender from Uzbekistan, jailed for ‘extortion’ has been released following a Parliamentary decision announced, on 24 December.

Turlibekov, journalist and leader of the Kashkadarya regional branch of the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan has been monitoring and documenting human rights violations committed against farmers and independent Muslims for many years.On 16 June 2006, in the city of Karshi, about 30 police officers broke into his home and seized his computer and human rights literature. He was arrested later that day. On 9 October, he was sentenced to three and a half years in prison.

Front Line remains deeply concerned for thirteen other members of the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan unjustly imprisoned or detained in psychiatric hospitals, as a result of their legitimate work for human rights and five family members of a human rights defender imprisoned because of his work. Front Line is calling on the authorities to revoke these detentions and permit the legal registration of independent human rights organizations, including the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan, which has applied six times for registration without success. This constitutes an obstacle preventing human rights defenders in Uzbekistan from carrying out their legitimate and important work of defending and promoting human rights in accordance with the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders.

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