Uznews, Tashkent, 03 Mar 2009 – Tashkent’s Shayhantahur district court on 27 February imposed fines worth 5 minimum wages – 140,000 sums or $80 – on human rights activists Yelena Urlayeva and Ada Kim for staging a protest action outside the Tashkent city court.
Urlayeva, a member of the Human Rights Alliance of Uzbekistan, said that they had not intended to hold the protest action but they had gone to the court to monitor the trial of lawyer Farid Abdurashidov, as they believe, on trumped-up charges.
After studying the material of the case Urlayeva made an improvised placard that read “We demand freedom for Farid Abdurashidov” and displayed it outside the court building.
Soon afterwards a police officer approached her and asked her to follow him to a nearby police station. However, Urlayeva refused to go to the police station and police ordered a group of gypsy women to attack her and during their fight, officers managed to force her into the car. They also forced Ada Kim into the car.
In the police station the activists were charged with refusing to fulfil police demands, hindering police duties and violating the rules for staging rallies.
The same evening the Shayhantahur district court fined the two pensioners.
This was one of the many cases in which human rights activists have been fined for staging unauthorised rallies. The previous case was on 6 December 2008 when they were fined 10 minimum wages for rallying outside the Prosecutor-General’s Office in Tashkent to demand freedom for political prisoners.
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