Former Andijon Fugitive Goes On Trial In Uzbekistan

Surat Ikromov, who chairs the Center for Human Rights Initiatives in Tashkent, told RFE/RL that Dilshodbek Hojiev is accused of links with the banned Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and the top leadership of the Al-Qaeda terrorist network.

"According to the indictment, Dilshodbek Hojiev was in Afghanistan and Turkey in the 1990s. There, as [the indictment] says, he collaborated with Osama bin Laden, Mullah Omar, and [Chechnya's separatist field commander] Amir al-Hattab."

Ikromov also said Uzbek prosecutors accuse Hojiev of being linked to IMU leaders Juma Namangani and Tahir Yuldoshev. Namangani is believed to have been killed during U.S.-led military operations in Afghanistan in 2001.

Hojiev fled to neighboring Kyrgyzstan after the Uzbek military violently reasserted control over the eastern city of Andijon in May 2005. Kyrgyz authorities sent him back to Uzbekistan along with three of his countrymen who were later sentenced to between 13 and 17 years in jail.