9 May 2012, Berlin

An Unpunished Crime

Berlin
9 May 2012, 12:00 am

On May 13th 2005, Uzbeki security forces shot several hundred people to death who were protesting in the city of Andijan. Week-long protests against repression and arbitrariness in the local authorities and justice system reached a peak when a prison was stormed and prisoners freed. The Uzbeki government justified its violent actions with the fight against Islamic extremists and to this day refuses to allow an independent, international investigation of the events, as the United Nations, OSZE and the EU have demanded.  

 

The EU reacted to the massacre by imposing individual sanctions and an arms embargo, but by the end of 2009 these had gradually been lifted. So far none of the suspects have been held personally responsible for the massacre.

   

Film screening:

Through the Looking Glass: The Andijan Massacre (Original film, English, 55 min, 2010)

 

A documentary by Monica Whitlock, former BBC Correspondent for Central Asia in Uzbekistan.

 

Consequences of the Andijan massacre for Uzbekistan and human rights policy today – a discussion with:


Galima Bukharbaeva, Chief Editor of uznews.net in Berlin. Bukharbaeva reported from Andijan for the international media as an eye witness, which later forced her to flee Uzbekistan.


Umida Niyazova, Uzbek-German Forum for Human Rights in Berlin, sentenced to 7 years imprisonment in Uzbekistan for her work as a journalist and human rights activist around the case of the Andijan massacre amongst others. She was freed following international pressure and was granted asylum in Germany.


Wolfgang Kaleck, General Secretary of the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights in Berlin. Brought charges against Uzbeki suspects of the Andijan massacre at the Federal Attorney General in December 2005.


Moderation: Viola von Cramon (Bündnis 90/The Green Party),  member of the German- Central Asia parliamentary group of the German Bundestag

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