Uzbek trials jail more people over Andizhan

Reuters December 23 Uzbek courts have given long jail terms to another 37 people found guilty of taking part in a May uprising in Andizhan, the Supreme Court said on Friday, ending the latest in a series of non-stop closed trials. Uzbekistan's relations with the West soured after Tashkent rejected international calls to hold an independent inquiry into the rebellion in which some 500 people died when government forces fired into crowds of protesters, according to witnesses. The Uzbek authorities, who maintain that 187 people died and blame the uprising on "foreign-paid terrorists", held an open trial and sentenced 15 people to long jail terms last month. But after fierce international criticism of the trial as an unfair and staged show, only closed trials have been conducted since then, churning out long jail sentences. The Supreme Court said in a statement that 37 people had been jailed for between 10 and 18 years on Thursday for murder, terrorism and attempting a coup. One person is to be "forcibly treated", it said, giving no further detail. On Wednesday, 41 people were found guilty of the same crimes. The latest trials brought the number of those found guilty of plotting or aiding the Andizhan rebellion to 151. Uzbek President Islam Karimov, in power since Soviet times and backed by China and Russia, justifies his repressive policy by saying that he needs to be tough to prevent an advent of militant Islam to his largely Muslim nation of 26 million. The U.S. military retreated from a key Uzbek airbase this month after Tashkent gave them six months to leave following Washington's strong criticism of the Andizhan bloodshed. The European Union has slapped an arms embargo on Uzbekistan and a visa ban on top officials accused of indiscriminate use of force. Karimov's critics argue that widespread poverty and political repression, rather than radical Islam, are the main reasons behind growing popular discontent.