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Uzbek Rights Defender Released Early From Prison


Uzbek rights activist Bobomurod Razzakov (file photo)
Uzbek rights activist Bobomurod Razzakov (file photo)

A well-known Uzbek human rights advocate has been released from jail one year before the end of his term.

The Ezgulik (Compassion) human rights center in Tashkent told RFE/RL that its former colleague, Bobomurad Razzaqov, was released on October 25.

Razzaqov, 63, worked to protect the rights of farmers in his native southwestern region of Bukhara.

He was convicted of human trafficking in 2013 and sentenced to four years in prison. Ezgulik rejected the charges against Razzaqov as politically motivated.

Razzaqov's unusual early release comes less than two weeks after the Uzbek Senate approved acting President Shavkat Mirziyaev's proposal for a mass amnesty of prisoners.

That was the first clemency adopted after long-term Uzbek leader Islam Karimov's death was officially announced on September 2.

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