A court in Uzbekistan has sentenced a blogger known for speaking out on corruption to 6.5 years in jail on
extortion and libel charges, his lawyer told AFP on Tuesday.
The case of Otabek Sattoriy, a popular video blogger from the southern town of Termez in the Central Asian
country, was widely viewed as a test for authorities who according to rights groups have been clamping down on free speech ahead of a leadership election in October.
However, a court in the southern Surkhondaryo region sentenced Sattoriy to six years and six months in jail on Monday,
lawyer Umidbek Davlatov told AFP, calling the verdict “completely unfair” and pledging to appeal.
“We don’t know for the moment on what precise basis the court ruled to send him to jail,” Davlatov told AFP by
telephone.
Sattoriy is one of a number of bloggers who have gained loyal followings during the last few years as freedoms
were relaxed somewhat under President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, who also styles himself as a reformer.
Cases against Sattoriy
Rights groups have pointed to cases against Sattoriy and other bloggers as well as harsh new laws punishing online criticism as signs that the former Soviet republic is sliding back into its hardline past.
Sattoriy’s videos on YouTube and Telegram saw him regularly criticise top officials in provincial Termez, highlight the
high cost of food prices at bazaars and allege corruption at a state gas company.
The Committee to Protect Journalists, however called the charges against Sattoriy “trumped-up” and “a clear attempt to
frighten the press away from covering sensitive issues as presidential elections grow near” in a statement published late on Monday.
Mirziyoyev, 63, is to face only token candidates in the October presidential vote, continuing a tradition
established by his autocratic predecessor Islam Karimov.
Karimov, under whom Mirziyoyev served as prime minister for 13 years, was famous for his authoritarian excesses
and intolerance of dissent, which saw government critics tortured during long stints in jail.
Mirziyoyev has publically disavowed torture and clamped down on forced labour while opening the country up to
tourism, but has continued to honour Karimov’s memory and distaste for opposition.
By Cynthia N.
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