Uzbek opposition leader Sanjar Umarov is finally reunited with his family after being released from a labor camp. He received an amnesty and was released from prison on Nov. 7.
A successful businessman, the 53-year-old Umarov formed the Sunshine Uzbekistan movement to press for economic reform. He became a dissident and vocal critic of President Islam A. Karimov following the Andijon massacre in 2005.
In 2005, he was charged with embezzlement and tax evasion and a court sentenced him to 10 years in jail. A permanent resident of the U.S., Umarov was reportedly tortured and denied both medical treatment and regular access to legal representation. His deteriorating condition was causing grave concern to his family and human rights activists.
The coalition’s prisoners of conscience committee has been supported by the National Endowment for Democracy.
The European Union recently announced that it would lift the few remaining sanctions on Tashkent imposed following the Andijon events.
“Umarov’s release was a ’thank you’ to the West for the lifting of sanctions,” Nadezhda Atayeva, president of the Paris-based group Human Rights in Central Asia told EurasiaNet. Karimov is “playing a game with the West,” by releasing one or two political prisoners a year in an attempt to improve the country’s image, she said.
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