Jamshid Karimov, a nephew of Uzbek President Islam Karimov who was abducted and forcibly incarcerated in a psychiatric hospital in 2006, has reportedly been released, the independent website uznews.net reported.

Bakhtiyor Hamrayev, a member of the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan, reported that members of his group saw Karimov back in his native city of Jizzak on November 6. After years of being subjected to psychotropic drug treatment in confinement, his psychiatric health has suffered. Three years ago, when his wife visited him, she found him mentally ill, Elena Urlayeva of the Human Rights Aliance told uznews.net

Jamshid Karimov had been held in a psychiatric hospital for five years in retaliation for his critical reporting for various web sites. Authorities initially obtained a court-ordered confinement for a period of six months, but then Karimov continued to be held without any psychiatric exam or court review. His case has been repeatedly raised with Uzbek authorities, including during Karimov’s trip to Brussels last year to meet with European Commission President José Manuel Barroso.

Hamrayev believes Karimov was released in conjunction with the visit to Tashkent October 22 of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was believed to have quietly mentioned some cases of political prisoners. Another political prisoner, Norboy Kholjigitov was released before her trip this year after serving 6 years of a 10 year sentence, and last year, Farkhad Mukhtarov, a human rights activist who had served less than half of a 4-year sentence, was paroled after her trip.

http://www.eurasianet.org/node/64588