Uzbek Insurgents Revealed Their Sponsors
// The defendants in Andijan trial accuse Americans and journalists
Yesterday the U.S. State Department rejected the accusation that the American Embassy in Uzbekistan prepared and financed the May uprising in Andijan. This statement became a response for confessions of the defendants in the Andijan case trial, who insist that the plot against the Uzbek authorities was masterminded by Americans, journalists and human rights activists. Kommersant was able to contact with some "plotters" who escaped Uzbekistan.
The accusation toward the USA sounded first on Monday during the court hearings in Tashkent. One of 15 defendants, Tavakkolbek Khodjiev, point the finger at Washington. During the hearings of the Supreme Court, he announced that the United States Embassy in Uzbekistan was a sponsor of the uprising. "We received money from the American Embassy," Khodjiev confessed. "They wanted to destroy the Constitutional system of Uzbekistan and to provoke a 'color revolution.'"
While revealing the plot, the defendants could not exactly name the amount of American investment in the coup. However, they described in details the preparations. According to defendant Husanjon Turabekov, some American named Kelly was contacting with the akramist rebels. She was visiting them in a red SUV and was always bringing with her human rights activists and journalists. Often, the American was accompanied by Matlyuba Azamatova -- reporter for the BBC in the Fergana Valley. Turabekov insists that Azamatova and human rights activists later became the main instigators of turmoil. "After Andijan's regional administration was seized, they were giving speeches all day long in the square, accused authorities and ask the insurgents to hold on for one more night until the help would arrive."
After completely admitting their guilt on very first court hearing and demanding for themselves the death penalty, the defendants took upon themselves the role of plaintiffs. They are continuing to speak up in the court, revealing the joint anti-Uzbek ploy of Washington, international terrorists, journalists and human rights activists. The defendants also continue to insist that they are well treated in jail, and that they are shocked by shameless lies of media and human rights activists, who are accusing Uzbek authorities in brutal repressions.
The similar characteristic to the media was given in the beginning of the hearings by Anvar Nabiev, Deputy General Prosecutor of Uzbekistan. Nabiev compared journalists with "jackals, searching for rotten dead meat." Among the worst Uzbek enemies, he mentioned also director of Tashkent office of IWRP Galina Bukharbaeva, correspondent of information agency Fergana.ru Alexei Volosevich, Radio Liberty reporter Andrey Babitsky and correspondent Matlyuba Azamatova, who worked for BBC and IWRP. They, according to the Deputy general Prosecutor, were showing terrorists as a fighters for freedom and democracy. The BBC got most of the bruises -- Nabiev said that journalists from this company "shamelessly
were circulating bias and untruthful information, ordered by outside forces." Speaking on Uzbek TV, the prosecutor called the employees of BBC Tashkent office as "enemies of the people."
Yesterday, Kommersant was able to contact with some defendants, who were accused of lying and helping terrorists. Speaking on the telephone, Matlyuba Azamatova told Kommersant: "I remember those, who accusing me already from the court in Andijan (the hearings over the Andijan businessmen, which provoked the uprising -Kommersant). Than, they were saying that they got nothing to do with akramists. And now, these people whose words I was quoting in the programs, accuse me in being a help for terrorists. It looks like, they were zombified." The journalist said that after the Andijan events, she was several times invited for interrogations. As a result, she had to leave Uzbekistan. "I was born in Andijan, but recently I took my kids and left to Bishkek," Azamatova said. "If I would stay, I would probably be witnessing against my colleagues too."
Galina Bukharbaeva, ex-director of Tashkent office of IWRP, was also accused in being in cahoots with terrorists. She personally witnessed the shooting in Andijan. Bukharbaeva told Kommersant on the telephone from New York : "I was in Andijan, when armored infantry carriers were shooting at people: women, children, everybody. Not many journalists saw that. And now, those few who have seen that presented to the world by the authorities as terrorists." By attacking the media, according to Bukharbaeva’s opinion, the authorities are trying to cover their quilt in killing hundreds of people: "Maybe, the next court would be suing journalists."
Yesterday, the U.S. State Department rejected any speculation about the participation of American Embassy in Andijan events. According to State Department spokesman Sean McCormack, there are absolutely no grounds for these theories. McCormak reminded that the USA for some time already is insisting on objective and independent investigation of Andijan tragedy.
Vladimir Soloviev; Yuri Chernogaev, Tashkent
All the Article in Russian as of Sep. 28, 2005
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