RFE/RL Correspondent Released From Uzbek Prison

Nosir Zokirov was summoned to court in the eastern city of Namangan on 26 August and tried without the presence of a defense counsel or without the possibility of cross-examining witnesses. He was sent directly to prison.

He was released on 26 February in good condition.

In an interview to RFE/RL's Uzbek Service, Zokirov said he was not mistreated.

"I wasn't beaten, and I didn't experience any kind of ill treatment -- either while I was at the [National Security Service] or in prison," Zokirov said. "They treat people like me differently."

Zokirov said he had felt "really isolated" and that he had received no information about his family. " I was concerned about my colleagues and family, but I couldn't get any information," he said.

The case was brought against Zokirov after an angry telephone exchange on 6 August with police in Namangan, in which Zokirov protested attempts to pressure a local poet, Kaidarali Khomulov, to lie about a broadcast interview he gave to Zokirov.

Zokirov had previously been summoned on a number of occasions to the local police station because of his reporting on the government crackdown on violent demonstrations in May 2005 in the city of Andijon.