Uznews, Tashkent, 07 Feb 2009 – The case of Salijon Abdurahmanov, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison, has been sent to the Uzbek Supreme Court and the Prosecutor-General’s Office. His lawyer Bahrom Abdurahmanov filed an appeal with the Supreme Court on 4 February against journalist Salijon Abdurahmanov’s sentence issued in October 2008.
The 58-year-old correspondent of Uznews.net in Karakalpakstan was detained on 7 June 2008 on charges of using drugs, which were later changed to charges of attempting to sell drugs after traffic police found drugs in his car’s boot where, the journalist and his lawyer believe, they were planted by police.
The authorities needed a pretext to arrest Karakalpakstan’s only independent voice thanks to which the world learnt about events taking place there.
His guilt was not proven either during the investigation or trial. However, he was handed down an extremely harsh sentence.
He is now serving his sentence in the Karshi prison where his lawyer visited him on 3 February.
It was not easy to arrange this meeting and the lawyer had to telephone the prison authorities in Tashkent to get permission to see his client who is also his brother.
“Salijon looks fine,” he said. “He is not being beaten up or tortured. Generally, he is being treated properly.”
He also said that Salijon had almost given up the fight and even asked him not to appeal to the Supreme Court, but he changed his mind later.
This honest and decent person remains faithful to his principles even in prison so he refused to take money and cigarettes from his lawyer, although he could use them to obtain perks. On the contrary, he said he would never do anything illegal.
“He said that he did not want to be part of a corrupt system. He believes that each of us bear responsibility for the observance of the law in the country,” his lawyer said.
Number of View: 5319