Daniel Kimmage writes in today’s RFE/RL Newsline:
More than 4,000 residents of Andijon demonstrated for a second consecutive day in a row on 11 May (see “RFE/RL Newsline,” 11 May 2005) to protest the trial of 23 local businessmen for alleged extremist activity in the so-called Akramiy organization, uznews.net reported. Prosecutors have asked for prison terms ranging from three to seven years for 20 of the defendants, saying that the remaining three can go free; the defendants were to have delivered their closing remarks to the court on 11 May, with sentencing expected next week. The brother of one defendant told uznews.net, “We are ready to do anything in order to free our innocent brothers.” Police have not interfered in the demonstrations, which are unusual in their size and degree of organization, according to observers, the BBC’s Uzbek Service reported.*
4,000 is pretty darn large for Uzbekistan, and I’d imagine the size explains why the police have not tried to break things up.
*Copyright (c) 2005. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org
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