Uzbek opposition group faces searches, arrests

Reuters October 31 When it came, after a tense two-and-a-half hour stand-off, the search of an Uzbek opposition group's offices on Monday was brief and relatively good-natured. One uniformed police officer and a man in a black leather jacket traipsed through the office, established that the person they wanted to question was not present, and left with four burly men who stood waiting in the corridor. Since bloody suppression of a revolt in Andizhan in May, rights groups, critical journalists and opposition politicians say they face a clampdown in the authoritarian Central Asian state; a creeping campaign ranging from intimidation and surveillance to arrest, with the threat of long jail sentences. Activists said the men sought an acquaintance of businessman Sanjar Umarov, head of the opposition Sunshine Coalition, who was arrested 10 days ago. Supporters put his arrest down to his criticism of President Islam Karimov, a man determined the kind of popular uprising that toppled President Askar Akayev in neighbouring Kyrgyzstan should not happen here. "You see, this is Karimov's regime. Empty," said Nigara Khidayatova, a senior member of the coalition and head of the Free Farmers' party, putting on a brave face after the search. The men had encircled the Soviet-era apartment block for two-and-a-half hours and photographed reporters who entered, but it was nothing compared to the Oct. 22 raid, Khidayatova said. "They sent 100 men that time, so we're getting used to this," she said. "It was just like in Stalinist times. They come at night, conduct a raid, make an arrest." The Uzbek General Prosecutor's Office said in a statement it had conducted the Oct. 22 raid on the Sunshine Coalition's office because a firm registered there, headed by Khidayatova's sister Nodira, was suspected of illicit use of state funds. During their raid they found Umarov and arrested him on suspicion of embezzling $3 million, prosecutors said. DISSENT STIFLED Since the suppression of the Andizhan revolt on May 13 -- which was prompted by the jailbreak of 23 Muslim businessmen -- Western countries have criticised Uzbekistan for indiscriminate use of force and the European Union has imposed sanctions. But inside Uzbekistan, critical voices have become muffled. In the latest incident, the BBC last week closed its office in the capital Tashkent, citing intimidation by the authorities. Opposition parties are banned from elections. Some see the emergence of the Sunshine Coalition, founded this year by Umarov who is a prominent oil and cotton businessman, as evidence that support for Karimov is crumbling among the elite. "Our programme is to bring capitalism to Uzbekistan; that's it," said Khidayatova. "We now understand the main obstacle to reform is the president." Uzbekistan's economy is run on Soviet lines but with massive unemployment and few state benefits. Economic grievances also featured in protests in Andizhan. Witnesses, including a Reuters correspondent, said they saw troops open fire on unarmed protesters including women and children. They estimated many hundreds were killed but the Uzbek government says 187 people died, mostly Islamist "terrorists". Khidayatova, the daughter of an eminent Soviet historian, said Karimov could no longer use the threat of Islamic fundamentalism to justify repression. "This is just his scarecrow," she said. "Before Andizhan he could get away with it, but now the biggest threat that this country faces is him."