Uzbekistan Journalist Says He Was Attacked

Aleksei Volosevich after the 9 November attack (fergana.ru) 10 November 2005 -- A journalist in Uzbekistan says he suffered minor injuries when he was attacked outside his apartment yesterday evening.

Reporter Aleksei Volosevich, 38, who works for the opposition website ferghana.ru, says the incident happened outside his apartment in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent. He says five young men beat him and threw paint at him. He says they also vandalized the door to his flat with anti-Semitic slogans.


Volosevich's claims could not be independently verified.


Volosevich reported for ferghana.ru and other media about the May crackdown against demonstrators in Andijon. Human rights activists say that many peaceful demonstrators were killed during the incident, although the Uzbek government says 187 people died, most of them "terrorists."


Uzbek authorities have so far made no immediate comments concerning Volosevich's claims.


Volosevich told journalists on 9 November that he views the attack as the latest in a series of incidents designed to intimidate independent journalists.


(RFE/RL's Uzbek Service/Reuters/AP)