On the fifth anniversary of the massacre in Uzbekistan’s eastern city of Andijon, RFE/RL remembers
Solijon Abdurakhmanov, an independent Uzbek journalist who is serving a 10-year prison term on drug charges that
human rights groups say were politically motivated.
Abdurakhmanov is a native of Karakalpakstan, an autonomous republic in western Uzbekistan. He wrote for UzNews.net, an independent online news agency, the Voice of America and the Institute for War and Peace Reporting. He worked for RFE/RL as a correspondent until 2005, when the events in Andijon forced the Uzbek service to close its Tashkent bureau.
Amnesty International designated Abdurakhmanov a prisoner of conscience in 2008. Numerous foreign governments, international organizations and
human rights groups have called for his release.