One other Uzbek has been sentenced to jail time – 5 years and one month – for violating Articles 158 of the nation’s felony code, particularly provisions pertaining to insulting the president. He was additionally charged with threatening the constitutional order for an alleged affiliation with the banned Erk (Freedom) occasion.
Bunyodjon Boboniyozov, a 38-year-old described by RFE/RL as a “social media person,” was sentenced by the Kattakurgan District Courtroom in Samarkand area virtually three months after his conviction. Boboniyozov – allegedly posting on Fb underneath the title “Boboniyaz Ahmad” – lambasted Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev as being a supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In an October 29, 2022 put up cited in court docket paperwork, he allegedly accused Mirziyoyev of “promoting out to Putin” and in one other put up on January 13, 2023 wrote “[Mirziyoyev] and his clan are supporting Putin’s warfare towards Ukraine.” The posts make point out of vitality shortages in Uzbekistan and customarily convey deep discontent with the Mirziyoyev authorities.
Uzbekistan’s felony code has lengthy been criticized by human rights teams. As on this case, Articles 158 and 159, amongst others, are sometimes weaponized towards regime opponents however in an arbitrary style, which makes it troublesome to find out what counts as an insult or a name to overthrow the constitutional order, and what counts as official political speech. It’s unclear from the accessible reporting whether or not Boboniyozov had any sort of vital following, however it’s clear that Tashkent is delicate about commentaries on the nation’s relations with Russia, vitality issues, and the president’s household.
RFE/RL’s Uzbek Service, generally known as Ozodlik, highlighted just a few different circumstances from the previous yr wherein people have been jailed for social media posts concerning these delicate matters, together with 19-year-old Dilshod Iskandarov (sentenced to 2 and a half years), 27-year-old O’tkirbek Sobirov (sentenced to a few years), and 30-year-old Ahrorbek Kochkarov (sentenced to 4 years of home arrest).
Ozodlik additionally famous that whereas court docket paperwork state that Boboniyozov was arrested in April 2023, they don’t specify how or when he arrived in Uzbekistan from Russia, the place he had reportedly lived for a while.
Uzbekistan has, in recent times, undergone an incredible transformation with million of residents coming on-line. As Niginakhon Saida famous in a 2022 article centered on the Islamic revival on-line in Uzbekistan:
The variety of particular person web customers elevated from simply 7,500 in 2000 to 27.2 million in 2022 (Uzbekistan’s complete inhabitants is estimated to be round 35.6 million). Though most customers, particularly in rural areas, depend on cellular web (over 22 million customers), reportedly 54 % of the households are linked to high-speed web.
Mirziyoyev’s coming to energy in 2016 coincided with this digital growth, and within the early years of his regime bloggers had been inspired to interact each authorities and residents in open dialogue. As Umida Niyazova of the Uzbek Discussion board for Human Rights wrote in an op-ed final yr:
Undoubtedly, with Mirziyoyev’s coming to energy in 2016, the scope of permitted criticism of the federal government was expanded, maybe one in every of most constructive adjustments within the “New Uzbekistan.” Concurrently, with the event of social media, lots of of standard bloggers and citizen reporters emerged, who grew to become necessary crucial voices of their communities.
In her article Niyazova sketched out quite a lot of authorized troubles skilled by Uzbek bloggers, many centered on thorny points associated to corruption. “Right this moment, though there may be rather more freedom of speech in comparison with the Karimov period, these ongoing assaults on bloggers and civil society activists present an alarming deteriorating dynamic.”
With Boboniyozov, the checklist of Uzbek residents punished for the issues they’ve written on-line continues to develop.