Uzbek émigrés in Washington demand President Karimov’s resignation.

18.04.12 02:12

The family of Bahodir Choriyev, the leader of the Birdamlik (Solidarity) opposition movement, held a protest outside the Uzbek embassy in the USA on 16 April to voice a number of political and personal demands to the Uzbek government.

At the protest, which started at 0800 and lasted for about three hours, an extended family of Choriyev, 25 people in total, demanded the Uzbek government release political prisoners:

Agzam Turgunov, Murod Jurayev, Mamadali Mahmudov, Muhammad Bekjan, Salijon Abdurahmanov, Rustam Usmanov and Azamat Azimov – all of them were sentenced to long prison terms for their political convictions and professional activities.

Protest participants held placards that read: (Uzbek President Islam “Karimov resign!” “Down with corruption in Uzbekistan!” “Stop pressure on political prisoners!”

The Choriyevs, who are members of the Birdamlik movement led by the eldest of brothers – Bahodir, said on their website that the Uzbek embassy had reacted to the protest

	Protest participants have called on President Karimov to resign

with deadly silence.

The diplomats tightly shut the windows and doors of the embassy building and pretended not to hear or see anything, and, Birdamlik noted with regret, even cancelled the admission of documents from visitors.

Personal motives prompted the Choriyevs to hold the protest outside the Uzbek embassy. They said that their elderly father Hasan Choriyev was still living in Uzbekistan and he constantly faced persecution by the authorities.

Since 2000, as major entrepreneurs in Kashkadarya Region and the owners of the multi-field Kesh joint-stock company, the Choriyevs had been subject to racket by local officials until they finally managed to seize the Kesh company despite a ruling by Uzbekistan’s Supreme Economic Court recognising the Choriyevs’ rights as owners.

The fight for Kesh was long and wearisome and nearly cost Bahodir Choriyev his life. He served some time in prison and encountered kidnapping and a violent assault while at large.

On 3 May 2005, the Choriyev family organised a protest outside the US embassy in Tashkent, the participants of which, including children, were dispersed by police officers and sportsmen hired by them.

After that most of the family immigrated to the USA but the head of the family, Hasan Choriyev stayed in the country.

However, he was not let alone and a court ruling over the alleged failure to pay electricity bills has stripped him of his Hasan Bobo Ugli Ihtiyor farm.

Uznews.net

http://www.uznews.net/news_single.php?lng=en&sub=hot&cid=30&nid=19673