Uzbek opposition politician arrested - group

Reuters October 24 An Uzbek politician and cotton businessman has been arrested and charged with theft, the moderate opposition Sunshine Coalition that he chairs said on Monday. The Sunshine Coalition was formed earlier this year to focus on campaigning for reform of the authoritarian Central Asian state's Soviet-style economy, which independent economists say has kept much of the population in poverty. "Overnight on Saturday, Sanjar Umarov, the chairman of the Sunshine Coalition was arrested," Nigara Khidayatova, a member of the coalition and head of the Free Farmers' party, said by telephone from the Uzbek capital Tashkent. "We don't know what condition he is in," she said. "This is a political case." After a bloody government crackdown against an uprising in the town of Andizhan in May, Umarov criticised President Islam Karimov's government and called on people to join his coalition to push for political and economic freedom. Umarov has been charged with large-scale theft by the General Prosecutor's Office but no other details were known, the coalition said. The prosecutor's office declined immediate comment. Uzbekistan is the world's number two exporter of cotton, and Umarov has also attacked state control which he has said stifled investment and was "rotting" the industry. The Sunshine Coalition said his arrest came after he wrote a letter appealing for help to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who visited Tashkent last week. Opposition parties are banned from running in elections in Uzbekistan. Russia and China have both backed Karimov on Andizhan and supported the official explanation that troops were acting against foreign-financed Islamic extremists. Western countries have criticised Uzbekistan for excessive use of force while witnesses have described troops killing scores of unarmed protesters.