Calls for action grow against Uzbek regime

Associated Press May 11 A billboard with a smiling President Islam Karimov meeting a worker in a hard hat decorates the road leading to the central square of this Uzbek city, where activists say government forces gunned down hundreds of protesters a year ago. Instead of a memorial, a mirrored facade covers the bullet marks that scarred City Hall during the May 13, 2005, uprising. A year after the Andijan events, exactly what happened remains unclear, with the government repeatedly refusing an international inquiry into what it claims was a terrorist attack fueled by Islamic extremism. The anniversary has prompted renewed Western calls for action against Tashkent - including leading U.S. lawmakers proposing new sanctions and British Prime Minister Tony Blair vowing to maintain European pressure. ``The Uzbek government has done nothing to hold the perpetrators of this atrocity accountable, and the international community has failed to compel the Uzbek authorities do so. The victims deserve no less than full justice,'' Kenneth Roth, executive director of U.S.-based Human Rights Watch, said ahead of the anniversary. Most people agree an armed group staged a prison break May 12, 2005, to free 23 businessmen after weeks of protests of their trial for alleged religious extremism, and other inmates got out. The men headed to Andijan's central square and were joined the next day by hundreds of residents who demonstrated against the government and the economy. Witnesses say government forces later opened fire without warning into the mostly unarmed crowd. Uzbek authorities say 187 people were killed, but activists have said hundreds or even more than 1,000 died. Hundreds fled to neighboring Kyrgyzstan, and the U.N. refugee agency evacuated 439 to Romania. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees has since closed its office in the capital, Tashkent, under official pressure, and a handful of U.S.-based groups were forced to leave in a crackdown on civic groups, activists and independent journalists. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe called last month for overturning the verdicts in the only open trial connected to the Andijan events, citing lack of due process. Fifteen men were sentenced to up to 20 years in prison after they pleaded guilty to charges that included terrorism and murder. ``I saw soldiers shooting at people waving a white flag,'' testified Makhbuba Zakirova, a housewife from a village near Andijan. She was the sole witness deviating from the government's version of events. Another 230 people were convicted in 17 closed trials, according to Human Rights Watch, including Interior Ministry staff, prison guards and soldiers. An unknown number of people are missing and the government has made no efforts to help families track them down, said Surat Ikramov, a Tashkent-based human rights activist. ``These questions will remain as long as there's no international inquiry,'' he said. The European Union last year enacted a travel ban on top officials that excluded Karimov. Germany nonetheless allowed former Interior Minister Zokirjon Almatov - the person at the top of the list - to travel there for medical treatment. This week, leading U.S. lawmakers said they would propose new sanctions including travel bans, asset freezes and arms exports bans. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., accused Tashkent of a ``brutal crackdown'' and said Uzbek ``show trials are reminiscent of the Stalin era.'' In Andijan, it is difficult to find anyone willing to speak openly about what happened. Residents contacted inside and outside the city refused to give details or allow their names to be used, for fear of repercussions. ``People used to want to speak, they all thought there would be some kind of international trial,'' said one Andijan man. ``Now they are all afraid. ... They see even the United States can't do anything.'' Despite the fear, anger still simmers. One activist said some 500 women and children protested a disruption in electricity and gas service in February, even throwing rocks at police. No men were there, apparently afraid of the response they might draw. The government has sought to placate residents by boasting of new investments in the area. The capital of Tashkent also has suffered shortages of cash due to money sent to Andijan to cover unpaid salaries and pensions, bank tellers have told clients. International experts and residents say Uzbekistan remains ripe for instability as people lose outlets for grievances as the economy remains mired in corruption. ``Practically 99 percent of the people are unhappy. It's a very dangerous situation,'' said Abdusalom Ergashev, a human rights activist in the city of Fergana. In the wake of Western criticism over Andijan, Uzbekistan evicted U.S. soldiers from a base used as a key facility for the campaign in neighboring Afghanistan. It also has embraced its old patron Moscow along with new ally Beijing, both of which have praised Uzbekistan's resolve in the face of dissent. Uzbekistan accuses Western powers of complicity in the Andijan events as part of alleged efforts to foment revolutions across the former Soviet Union. But the rhetoric is unconvincing to many. ``We used to think Karimov had bad advisers and therefore did not know what was really happening,'' an elderly man who identified himself as Alimjon said, squatting Wednesday beside a pile of cheap toys he was selling at a Tashkent bazaar. ``He has spilled the blood of his own people, and I cannot find words for what he's done. I can only hope to outlive him and see his name cursed forever.''