Riots in Andijan

Region Features

The Ferghana Valley has always been a special ethnocultural region within Central Asia. Besides the fact that it was the most favorable for agriculture (while other regions of Central Asia were engaged in cattle breeding) and the most densely populated territory of the region ^{[1] [2]} , it also possessed a number of cultural characteristics of the population, such as specific local traditions ^[3] , conservatism, cohesion of the population (a strong mahalla institution), rejection of change ^[2] . For example, according to the 1897 census, the Ferghana region turned out to be one of the regions with the largest number of polygamous marriages ^[4] . Also, the Ferghana region is characterized by increased religiosity of the population ^[5] . Many post-Soviet Islamist parties and movements originate from the Ferghana Valley, in particular from the city of Namangan , in which a particularly tense situation developed in the early 1990s ^[6] . The region is also known for the bloody interethnic confrontations that occurred in 1989 in Uzbekistan and in 1990 in Kyrgyzstan .

Andijon Entrepreneurship Trial

On May 25, 2004, the regional Kengash dismissed the long-held khokim of Andijan viloyat Kobiljon Obidov and appointed Saydullo Begaliyev, who was previously the Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources of Uzbekistan, to replace him.

On February 11, 2005, a trial began in Andijan against 23 local businessmen who were charged with participation in the banned Islamic sect of Akramia and cooperation with its founder Akram Yuldashev (it is worth noting that this court was not the only process against business representatives instituted on charges of Islamic extremism ^[7] ). According to the relatives of the defendants, they were simply devout Muslims and were not members of any associations ^[8] . Entrepreneurs were very popular in the city, because they donated a large part of their profits to charity, provided a large number of jobs, set minimum wages at their enterprises above the state level, treated and fed workers ^[9] . The court was accompanied by constant pickets of relatives and supporters of the defendants ^[9] .

Riots in the city

On May 12, the verdict was to be announced and relatives and supporters of the defendants gathered around the court ^[10] . After the police began to arrest those gathered, it was decided to release the prisoners by force ^[10] . at about 23:30 supporters of convicted businessmen in two groups of up to 40 people under the leadership of A. Khakimov and I. Pirmatov attacked the patrol service of the Internal Affairs Directorate of Andijan region ^[9] . At the same time, another group of 50-100 people, headed by M. Sobirov, I. Khozhiev and A. Ibragimov , they attacked the location of the 34th brigade of the Ministry of Defense, as a result of which they stole about 100 Kalashnikov assault rifles ^[11] , several grenades, and also a ZIL-130 car ^[12] . The military unit was guarded by 5 people ^[11] , all of them died ^[12] . In total, according to Uzbek law enforcement agencies, about 334 weapons were captured during the riots ^[13] . At about one in the morning, members of these battle groups, in total about 80 people, broke into the territory of the prison UYA-64 / T-1, which contained the defendants businessmen, ramming its gates with a stolen military truck ^[14] . During the assault on the prison, a shootout ensued, as a result of which 3 guards were killed and an unknown number of protesters ^[7] By the time of the attack, 737 prisoners and convicts were in prison , of which 527 were released by the rebels (about 470 of them subsequently voluntarily surrendered to the authorities) ^[15] . Some prisoners subsequently took part in the seizure of the building of the regional administration ^[16] . On May 13, all people, including those released from the pre-trial detention center, decided to advance to the Andijan region administration and hold a rally there . On the way to the hokimiyat building, protesters walked past the building of the National Security Service (National Security Service of the Republic of Uzbekistan), resulting in a fierce firefight that lasted for about an hour. ^[7] Having approached the hokimiyat building, they captured him and captured a police officer in the building .

Then on the square to them. Babur in front of the hokimiyat building began a spontaneous rally ^[17] After this, the rebels began to communicate by telephone and call their relatives and friends and the people from nearby streets to the building of the regional hokimiyat ^[7] . Information about the rally spread throughout the city and, by the middle of the day, a huge crowd of people gathered in the square and the streets adjacent to it ^[16] . Many came as whole families ^[7] . Initially, the rally was dedicated to an unfair trial of 23 entrepreneurs, but gradually it turned into a demonstration against government policy (poverty, unemployment, non-payment of social benefits for disabled people, etc.) ^{[18] [16]} Immediately after the rally began, its participants take hostages ^[19] . These were mainly officials in the hakimyat building and neighboring government houses, as well as policemen, soldiers, and members of the NSB ^{[8] [16]} who had begun to gather in the square. Among the hostages were the regional prosecutor and the head of the regional tax inspectorate ^[16] . Messages about the mood at the rally vary. According to the government, voiced later at the Andijan riot trial, those gathered shouted the word “jihad” and demanded the establishment of the Caliphate ^[16] . However, according to eyewitnesses, the slogans of the protesters were not related to religion and people shouted out the word "Ozodlik!" (Freedom!) ^{[20] [16]} . According to one of the eyewitnesses ^[21] :

At night in a telephone conversation, Minister of Internal Affairs Almatov informed the president about the situation. At 7:30, Islam Karimov was in Andijan ^[22] . A small headquarters was created, which was tasked with neutralizing the situation and freeing the hostages . Many protesters expected that officials or even Islam Karimov ^{[18] [16] [7] [23]} would arrive in the square to speak to the people. The rebels and the government headquarters entered into negotiations. From the government side, negotiations were conducted by Zakir Almatov, from the side of the protesters Abduldzhon (according to other sources Kabul ^[24] ) Parpiev, a former prisoner arrested after the 1999 terrorist attacks in Tashkent ^[20] , entered them . According to eyewitnesses, Parpiev demanded to stop criminal cases against businesses under articles on extremism, release political prisoners, and also suggested that someone from the government arrive in the square to negotiate with the people ^[20] . However, Almatov rejected these demands and immediately offered to provide the rebels with a “corridor” for passage to Kyrgyzstan. Parpiev continued to insist on the need to meet with discontented people. Almatov replied that he would think it over and interrupted the conversation ^[7] .

The version of the authorities sounded a little different. According to Islam Karimov ^[12] :

... Negotiations on our part were conducted by the Minister of Internal Affairs Zakir Almatov and the head of the regional administration Saydulla Begaliev. There were others, but mostly these people. First of all, we revealed who formally, I emphasize this word - formally, is the leader of this entire group. They had enough mobile phones, and we established their numbers, then we began to negotiate with this formal leader by telephone. We asked them a simple question: “What do you want?” And we set them our condition: free the hostages, leave the building, nobody will touch you with your finger, we are ready to fit the buses, and you can get into them, even with your weapons.

Initially, the leader who negotiated on their part agreed, but only set the condition: "You detained six people from our people there, bring them and give them to us, after that we will get on the buses and go." We agreed. But after we agreed and it was time to fulfill the agreement, there was another phone call, which showed that their first request was only a trial balloon.

You, journalists, are probably interested in the question: what goals did they really pursue, what were their main requirements? I answer: they demanded that not only six of them be released from places of detention, but also all their ideologists and accomplices who are imprisoned in the Tashkent and Navoi regions and in other places. Of course, we could not agree with such arrogant demands. Although at first there were hesitating among the members of the headquarters: why not bring them and give them away? There were even telephone orders to prepare the plane for this. But then, judiciously, they decided that if we now agree, then this incident could lead to the fact that tomorrow there will be dozens of such seizures throughout Uzbekistan. <...> By 13 o’clock we informed them of a categorical refusal to fulfill the impudent requirements. Our services, mobilized servicemen, still did not approach the building. We told them: “We give you time, think, give a guarantee that nobody, not one of you will be touched. Here you have the buses. They are already standing. If you want, sit down and leave, if you want, turn in your weapons and return to your homes. ” Yes, and such a condition was also set: hand over your weapons and return to your homes.

The first appearance of military equipment in the vicinity of the square was recorded between 6:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m., and at about 10:00 a.m., the first fire at protesters was opened from APC columns ^{[25] [7]} . Skirmishes continued throughout the day, fire was fired from armored personnel carriers passing by the square and from the roofs of neighboring houses ^[16] . A large number of people were affected ^[23] . The situation was gradually heating up; several buildings adjacent to Babur Square were set on fire ^[16] . By 16:00, the square was blocked, all exits from it were blocked ^[7] , and at 17 o'clock a full-scale assault began ^[10] . Two columns of armored personnel carriers drove into the square and opened fire on protesters ^{[26] [27]}

After the fire was opened from the armored cars, and the main square in front of the governor’s residence was cordoned off, the crowd poured in panic on Chulpan Avenue and was ambushed ^[28] However, the pro-government media reported that the protesters “realizing the futility of their efforts to enlist the support of the population and provoke mass actions of discontent ”they themselves decided to run to the border with Kyrgyzstan through Chulpan Avenue ^[14] , while firing on law enforcement units in order to provoke them to retaliate actions ^[14] . According to the same media, "on Chulpan Street, terrorists opened fire on military personnel who were in the area to ensure the safety of the population from possible attacks by terrorists, without interfering with the movement of the latter." According to eyewitnesses, the situation was as follows: the protesters were divided into two groups - in the first there were armed men, as well as most hostages, the second mainly consisted of women with children and peaceful demonstrators, however there were also a number of armed people and hostages ^[23] . Under occasional erratic fire, the crowd moved along Chulpan Avenue, trying to turn onto the side streets, but they were blocked by public transport and armored vehicles ^[23] . The first serious collision took place at the intersection of the avenue with st. Parkovoy near the Telecom office building ^[7] . Having approached there, the crowd found that the whole street was blocked by buses, behind which were the positions of the security forces of Uzbekistan ^[23] . The rebels decided to put forward the hostages, hoping that the commandos would not shoot at their own, and moved forward ^[23] . However, because of the buses fire was opened, many people were injured ^[7] . According to pro-government media reports, the rebels were the first to launch indiscriminate shooting, killing 12 hostages and 38 civilians ^[14] . The protesters still managed to break through the barrage cordon, but near the school number 15, located opposite the Cholpon movie theater, they fell into the next ambush ^[23] . A random skirmish began and many people were killed ^[16] . Most likely, most of the victims of these riots died there: eyewitnesses say that the whole street was covered with corpses of people ^[23] . The survivors managed to escape to the neighboring Baynal-Minal street ^[7] . Some people, most of them children and elderly women, tried to hide in the surrounding houses, some residents of the houses themselves suggested hiding people at home ^[29] . The rest of the demonstrators, fearing reprisals from the government, decided to go to the border with Kyrgyzstan ^[29] . At the same time, according to pro-government media reports, the leaders of the counter-terrorist operation themselves decided to release the rebels from the city, seeing what victims the confrontation with them leads to. ^[14] .

Events on the Kyrgyz Border

By the morning of May 14, having traveled 50 kilometers per night, a group of refugees from Andijan arrived in the city of Teshiktos ^[16] . A different number of people who managed to get to the border with Kyrgyzstan is called - from 500 people ^[16] to several thousand ^[14] . A local resident agreed to help people get to the border, but when they went to one of Teshiktos streets, they came across an armored personnel carrier and a group of 10-15 soldiers ^[29] . The soldiers immediately opened fire on them, several more people died ^[7] . Local residents began to help the wounded, while most refugees left this street and, having gathered on one of the squares of the city, began to pray in fear ^[29] . In the end, a delegation of several women and old men was sent to the Uzbek-Kyrgyz border, after negotiations with which the Uzbek border guards agreed to let refugees into the territory of Kyrgyzstan for a bribe ^[29] . Kyrgyz border guards agreed to let people into their territory only if they did not have weapons ^[16] . Soon, Kyrgyz officials arrived at the scene, who first tried to convince people to return to the territory of Uzbekistan, but realizing the failure of their attempts, they decided to organize a camp near the city of Kara-Suu ^[29] .

The fate of refugees

At first, the topic of allegedly “73 units of firearms seized by Kyrgyz law enforcement agencies from Uzbek citizens who crossed the border of Kyrgyzstan” was actively discussed in the media ^[14] , but this information was officially refuted by the Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry ^[30] . Среди перешедших границу были сбежавшие из андижанской тюрьмы преступники, 12 из них были перемещены из палаточного городка в СИЗО города Ош ^[31] Существовала идея о создании специальной межгосударственной комиссии для расследования и выявления причин случившегося, однако правительство Узбекистана отвергло эту идею ^[32] . Свыше 460 узбеков, решением Верховного комиссара ООН получили статус политических беженцев. После принятия этого решения они получили право на предоставление временного убежища в третьей стране, которой согласилась стать Румыния ^[33]

Узбекские власти неоднократно заявляли, что преследуют только террористов и призывали мирных жителей вернуться на родину ^[34] , однако известны случаи, когда вернувшиеся беженцы подвергались суду и получали большие сроки заключения ^[35]

По официальным данным Узбекистана в ходе беспорядков погибло 187 человек ^[36] , из них 27 человек были сотрудниками правоохранительных органов ^[13] . Общество прав человека Узбекистана «ЭЗГУЛИК» приводит статистику в 230 человек ^[37] . Существуют независимые подсчёты, которые называют цифру в 800 погибших ^[13] .

The United States and other Western countries immediately demanded an independent investigation into the events in Andijan and accused the Uzbek authorities of “indiscriminate use of force” in suppressing the armed rebellion. Uzbek officials have called it interference in the country's internal affairs. The European Union and the US Congress imposed sanctions against Uzbekistan. However, in October 2009, the embargo and other restrictions were lifted ^[38]

On November 23, 2005, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution condemning Uzbekistan for its refusal to consider the events in Andijan otherwise than as an internal affair of the country. 74 countries voted for it, 39 against, 51 abstained. Among those who voted against were Afghanistan , Azerbaijan , Belarus , Zimbabwe , India , Kazakhstan , China , Cuba , Libya , Russia , Saudi Arabia , North Korea , Syria , Tajikistan , Turkmenistan and others ^[39]

The first country that President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov visited after the Andijan events was the PRC . On May 25, Chinese President Hu Jintao and Karimov signed an agreement on partnership relations of friendship and cooperation. The Chinese leadership on the background of pressure from the West took the side of the President of Uzbekistan. In an interview with the People’s Daily newspaper, Karimov stated that the events in Andijan were directed and financed from abroad: “The criminals and the forces behind them intended to destabilize the situation not only in Uzbekistan, but throughout Central Asia.” Foreign Ministry spokesman Kun Quan confirmed that China supports “the efforts of the Uzbek authorities to combat terrorism, separatism and religious extremism” (he also noted that “the events that took place in Uzbekistan are an internal affair of this country”) ^[40] .

The trial took place in several stages from September 20 to December 12. The hearing was open. Representatives of the diplomatic corps and international organizations, including the UN , OSCE , ODIHR , UNHCR and the SCO , monitored the trials and had free access to the courtroom. In total, 121 people were detained for participating in the rebellion. The defendants received sentences mostly of 14 to 20 years in prison. Accused of aggravated murder under articles, assault on the constitutional system of the Republic of Uzbekistan, terrorism and others ^[41] .

• Through the looking glass: Shooting at Andijan. Doc film directed by Monica Whitlock.

• Andijan 2005 . A special section on the site “Ferghana. Ru "(about 30 articles)
• OSCE PRIMARY REPORT “EVENTS IN ANDIZHAN (UZBEKISTAN), MAY 13, 2005” (in Russian)
• PRELIMINARY FINDINGS ON THE EVENTS IN ANDIJAN, UZBEKISTAN, 13 MAY 2005 - Bureau for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights
• Uzbekistan: breaking the blockade around the truth about Andijan. Report Summary - AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
• “On the formation of an independent Commission of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan to investigate events that occurred in the city of Andijan” (Russian) . Archived on May 18, 2012.
• Andijan massacre: eyewitnesses 10 years later
• Changes in Uzbekistan's Military Policy after the Andijan Events (link not available) Central Asia-Institute Silk Road Studies Program
• Uzbekistan: Waiting for the other shoe to drop , a follow up by The Economist