Uzbekistan seeks prison terms in uprising

Associated Press October 27 Uzbek prosecutors on Wednesday requested prison sentences of up to 20 years for 15 men accused of organizing a May uprising in an eastern city. Deputy Prosecutor General Anvar Nabiyev accused the defendants of being Islamic extremists who sought to overthrow the government and carve out an Islamic state within Uzbekistan and other former ex-Soviet nations in Central Asia. Nabiyev asked the court to sentence five of the defendants each to 20 years in prison, and to give the others terms ranging from 15 to 19 years. Uzbekistan's authoritarian government hopes the trial - which began more than a month ago - will refute accusations by rights groups and others that government troops fired on peaceful, unarmed protesters and killed hundreds. Officials contend that the uprising was encouraged by extremist Islamic groups from abroad, and that 187 people died. Rights groups have dismissed the tightly controlled trial as a show, saying much of the testimony was coerced through torture. The United Nations Commission on Human Rights, meanwhile, issued a statement saying the confessions by the 15 men may have been obtained through torture. The statement noted previous reports by U.N. rights investigators that found torture was systematic in Uzbekistan. The Andijan uprising erupted when militants seized a prison and freed 23 businessmen who had been on trial for alleged Islamic extremism. Attackers then seized a local administration building and about 70 hostages, as thousands of demonstrators gathered in an adjacent square to press economic and social grievances. Nabiyev reaffirmed the prosecutors' claim that the participants in the uprising opened fire on the government troops, provoking a fierce gunbattle. ``Under the guise of social protection, the Islamic extremists staged anti-people actions that resulted in the death of peaceful civilians, government workers and law enforcement agents,'' he told the court. The defendants and more than 100 witnesses who testified during the carefully choreographed trial backed the official charges with the remarkable exception of one housewife, who challenged the official version of events, saying earlier this month that soldiers had opened fire on protesters waving a white flag. The government's handling of the unrest and its refusal to allow an international inquiry has badly strained its relations with Western countries, but President Islam Karimov has received support from Russia and China. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday again underscored Moscow's support for Karimov, likening the violence in Uzbekistan to a recent raid by Islamic militants in southern Russia.