27 December 2003 -- People's Democratic Party of Uzbekistan holds session, replaces Chairman Abdulkhafiz Jalolov, who is not present, with Asliddin Rustamov
24 December 2003 -- Ministry of Justice says Birlik denied registration because it did not present all required documents
11 December 2003 -- President Karimov appoints Samarkand Governor Shavkat Mirziyayev to be prime minister, replacing Utkir Sultanov
6 December 2003 -- Ozod Dehkonlar Partiyasi holds founding congress in Tashkent
26 November 2003 -- Key witness in the 1999 trial of suspects in the Tashkent bombings, Zayniddin Askarov, meets with journalists and recants his testimony, says Erk leader Mohammad Solih had no connection to the February 1999 bombings
15 November 2003 -- New party Ozod Dehkonlar Partiyasi holds session
15 November 2003 -- The new Liberal-Democratic party holds founding congress, leader is economist Kabiljon Toshmatov, more than 300 delegates representing all provinces attend
22 October 2003 -- Erk holds party congress in Tashkent, re-organizes leadership and elects a 21-member Central Council
16 October 2003 -- Rights activists demonstrate outside prosecutor-general's office demanding the release of two jailed Erk members
15 October 2003 -- Freedom House releases statement protesting the persecution of Uzbek political activists
15 October 2003 -- Some 20 members of Erk demonstrate outside the prosecutor general's office demanding the return of property seized by police, police beat, then load Erk members onto buses and take them to the courthouse, two are jailed
14 October 2003 -- Erk party members Aygul Mamatova and Abdulkhashim Gafurov released
13 October 2003 -- Police detain Aygul Mamatova and Abdulkhashim Gafurov of the Erk party to question them about books found in their car, some written by Mohammad Solih
10 October 2003 -- Independent Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan, in a statement, calls on President Karimov to step down
2 October 2003 -- Erk, at first press conference in more than 10 years, calls on Uzbek government to respect the constitution and allow the party to conduct its activities
23 September 2003 -- HRW releases report saying the mahallas are being used for as tools of a repressive regime, says the mahalla has been turned into a "national system for surveillance"
17 July 2003 -- More than 24 people demonstrate outside the cabinet to demand greater political freedom, an end to corruption, and the registration of Erk and Birlik
14 June 2003 -- Erk holds a party meeting in Tashkent, its first in 10 years
4 May 2003 -- Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and Tajik presidents join Uzbek president in Tashkent to attend EBRD annual forum of governors, President Karimov's office says the four presidents will meet, along with Georgian president, and hold informal separate and multilateral meetings on the forum's sidelines, EBRD President Jean Lumierre urges Karimov to institute radical reforms, including elimination of torture
8 April 2003 -- Authorities detain Oleg Nikolayev, 42, who had been driving around Tashkent with signs on his windows reading "President Karimov Resign!" and "Uzbekistan's Government Resign!" He is released after six hours and charged with illegally making and displaying placards
24 March 2003 -- Some 2,000 students at the Samarkand Foreign Languages Institute stage spontaneous rally to overturn decision dismissing university rector Yusuf Abdullayev, students threaten to occupy the regional administration, but Abdullayev appears and says he voluntarily went into retirement
14 March 2003 -- Sadyk Safayev named foreign minister, replaces Abdulaziz Komilov who becomes foreign policy adviser to the president
28 February-1 March 2003 -- Aaron Rhodes, executive director of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, says during visit to Tashkent that "the violations of human rights in Uzbekistan pose a security threat because they give credence to radical ideologies, including militant Islam," also says recruits to radical groups are often relatives of those who have been tortured or killed in prison, or arrested simply because of membership in an independent religious group
26 February 2003 -- Human Rights Watch releases statement about Uzbek journalist and Birlik member Ergash Bobojonov, 61, arrested in his eastern Fergana region home on libel charges on 17 February, HRW says his arrest "was the latest in a series of police actions intended to chill public criticism of the government"
16 February 2003 -- Komil Begjon, brother of Erk leader Mohammad Solih, released from prison under an amnesty
15 February 2003 -- Nigmat Nazaraliyev, member of the Committee for the Protection of Rights of the Individual arrested after hunger striking for three days outside the Justice Ministry to protest human rights abuses
3 January 2003 -- Yuldash Rasulov, member of the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan, released under presidential amnesty declared in December
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