Uznews, Tashkent, 24 Oct 2009 – The Real Union of Journalists of Uzbekistan (RUJU) and the Uznews.net news service have appealed to German leaders to achieve the release of journalist Salijon Abdurahmanov before the abolition of the EU sanctions imposed on Uzbekistan for the Andijan massacre in May 2005.
The appeal by the RUJU and Uznews.net for help in realising 59-year-old Karakalpak journalist Salijon Abdurahmanov was sent on 22 October to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and leader of the Liberal Democratic Party (FDP) Guido Westerwelle, who is likely to head the Foreign Ministry after claiming a victory in the election.
Abdurahmanov’s colleagues called on the German leaders to use their relations with the Uzbek government to help at least one jailed journalist – Salijon Abdurahmanov, who was sentenced to 10 years last October on trumped up charges of attempting to sell drugs.
The obvious lifting of the weapons embargo from Uzbekistan by EU foreign ministers at a meeting on 26-27 October – the last sanctions imposed four years ago for crushing a rally in Andijan on 13 May 2005, journalists believe, should not be unconditional and Germany can and should achieve at least one concession from the Uzbek government.
This concession in return for the abolition of the last sanctions should become the release of the absolutely innocent person who is serving his sentence for his journalistic activities, his colleagues believe.
Germany, which is the main advocate of the Uzbek regime after the Andijan massacre, claims that Tashkent has started reforms in the human rights sphere and is ready for dialogue, but these reforms have not included Salijon Abdurahmanov, the appeal says.
“Demand the release of the journalist because Germany has an influence on both the EU and Uzbekistan,” Abdurahmanov’s colleagues asked German politicians.
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