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Uzbekistan has put 22 folks on trial, accusing them of “undermining constitutional order” by collaborating in unprecedented anti-government protests in July.
Formally, 21 folks died within the autonomous Republic of Karakalpakstan within the protests, sparked by a deliberate change to the structure that will have undermined the area’s proper to self-determination.
The violence in Nukus, the primary metropolis in Karakalpakstan, compelled President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to make a uncommon about-face and scrap the proposal.
Aziz Obidov, the spokesman for the Supreme Courtroom of Uzbekistan, confirmed to the AFP information company the trial began on Monday.
Writing on Telegram, Obidov mentioned “22 folks” had been within the dock, of whom 20 had been in custody, with one below home arrest and one out on bail.
They’re accused of a number of offences. Probably the most severe, “undermining constitutional order”, carries a 20-year jail sentence.
Journalists are authorised to cowl the trial. Nonetheless, it was introduced solely on Sunday night and takes place in Bukhara, about 600km (370 miles) from each Nukus and Tashkent, the nationwide capital.
Karakalpakstan is residence to fewer than two million folks in a nation of 35 million, however it covers greater than a 3rd of Uzbek territory.
Protests erupted in Nukus on July 1 and a couple of over a transfer to take away Karakalpakstan’s proper, below the structure, to carry a referendum on self-determination.
Lots of of individuals had been arrested.
‘International forces’
The president accused “international forces” of being behind the unrest, with out additional rationalization, earlier than scrapping the proposed adjustments.
Mirziyoyev got here to energy in 2016 after the loss of life of his predecessor, Islam Karimov.
He has pushed by important financial and social reforms, however his regime is accused by help organisations of trampling on folks’s fundamental rights.
In early November, Human Rights Watch mentioned the authorities “unjustifiably used deadly pressure … to disperse primarily peaceable demonstrators” after verifying dozens of movies and photographs of the protests and victims.
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