Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07TASHKENT1796
2007-10-18 04:04:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Tashkent
Cable title:
JOURNALIST REPORTEDLY ATTACKED IN TASHKENT
how-toVZCZCXRO2637 RR RUEHDBU DE RUEHNT #1796 2910404 ZNY CCCCC ZZH R 180404Z OCT 07 FM AMEMBASSY TASHKENT TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8614 INFO RUEHAH/AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT 3355 RUEHTA/AMEMBASSY ASTANA 9558 RUEHEK/AMEMBASSY BISHKEK 3971 RUEHDBU/AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE 3834
C O N F I D E N T I A L TASHKENT 001796
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR SCA/CEN AND DRL
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/17/2017
TAGS: PHUM PGOV UZ
SUBJECT: JOURNALIST REPORTEDLY ATTACKED IN TASHKENT
Classified By: POLOFF R. FITZMAURICE FOR REASONS 1.4 (B, D)
C O N F I D E N T I A L TASHKENT 001796
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR SCA/CEN AND DRL
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/17/2017
TAGS: PHUM PGOV UZ
SUBJECT: JOURNALIST REPORTEDLY ATTACKED IN TASHKENT
Classified By: POLOFF R. FITZMAURICE FOR REASONS 1.4 (B, D)
1. (U) The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and the
independent Uznews.net website both reported on October 12
that Sid Yanyshev, a Tashkent-based correspondent for the
Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) and the
independent Ferghana.ru website, was attacked in Tashkent on
October 11 by two men who allegedly identified themselves as
National Security Service (NSS) officers.
2. (U) According to CPJ and Uznews, Yanyshev had just
returned from Chirchiq, where he was covering protests over
bread shortages and the rising cost of wheat. The two men
reportedly approached him as he was returning home and then
beat him and demanded that he quit reporting. He was not
seriously injured. According to CPJ, Yanyshev was also
summoned to the Tashkent Prosectuor's Office in Tashkent
earlier this year as a witness in the trial of human rights
activist and journalist Umida Niyazova, at which point he was
reportedly shown copies of his bank statements and
interrogated about the sources of his income.
3. (C) Yanyshev's colleague at Ferghana.ru, Aleksey
Volosevich, told poloff on October 17 that he had spoken with
Yanyshev, who described the attack in the same terms as the
websites. Volosevich also said that he suffered a similar
attack in 2005 when a group of five unknown persons forced
him onto the ground and poured paint into his hair. He
believed that both attacks were clearly aimed at intimidating
the journalists into silence. In July, Volosevich and Said
Abdurakhimov, a journalist for Uznews.net, were also detained
and interrogated for several hours without explanation by
Ministry of Defense and National Security Service officers in
Uchkuduk and Navoi.
4. (C) Comment: The attack on Sid Yanyshev is another
reminder that, despite constitutional guarantees of freedom
of speech and the press, independent journalists in
Uzbekistan continue to face harassment and worse. We need to
insist to the GOU that the new era of better relations that
they say they want must include better performance across the
board on human rights issues like freedom of the press.
NORLAND
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR SCA/CEN AND DRL
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/17/2017
TAGS: PHUM PGOV UZ
SUBJECT: JOURNALIST REPORTEDLY ATTACKED IN TASHKENT
Classified By: POLOFF R. FITZMAURICE FOR REASONS 1.4 (B, D)
1. (U) The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and the
independent Uznews.net website both reported on October 12
that Sid Yanyshev, a Tashkent-based correspondent for the
Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) and the
independent Ferghana.ru website, was attacked in Tashkent on
October 11 by two men who allegedly identified themselves as
National Security Service (NSS) officers.
2. (U) According to CPJ and Uznews, Yanyshev had just
returned from Chirchiq, where he was covering protests over
bread shortages and the rising cost of wheat. The two men
reportedly approached him as he was returning home and then
beat him and demanded that he quit reporting. He was not
seriously injured. According to CPJ, Yanyshev was also
summoned to the Tashkent Prosectuor's Office in Tashkent
earlier this year as a witness in the trial of human rights
activist and journalist Umida Niyazova, at which point he was
reportedly shown copies of his bank statements and
interrogated about the sources of his income.
3. (C) Yanyshev's colleague at Ferghana.ru, Aleksey
Volosevich, told poloff on October 17 that he had spoken with
Yanyshev, who described the attack in the same terms as the
websites. Volosevich also said that he suffered a similar
attack in 2005 when a group of five unknown persons forced
him onto the ground and poured paint into his hair. He
believed that both attacks were clearly aimed at intimidating
the journalists into silence. In July, Volosevich and Said
Abdurakhimov, a journalist for Uznews.net, were also detained
and interrogated for several hours without explanation by
Ministry of Defense and National Security Service officers in
Uchkuduk and Navoi.
4. (C) Comment: The attack on Sid Yanyshev is another
reminder that, despite constitutional guarantees of freedom
of speech and the press, independent journalists in
Uzbekistan continue to face harassment and worse. We need to
insist to the GOU that the new era of better relations that
they say they want must include better performance across the
board on human rights issues like freedom of the press.
NORLAND