Shavkat Mirziyoyev: Why is reformist Uzbek leader arresting bloggers?

After being accused of bribery, Olimjon Haydarov was detained and taken into custody in Kokand, an eastern town in Uzbekistan, in July.

The YouTuber was accused of robbing a shopping center manager of money by threatening to write an article about safety violations at the establishment. Her videos deal with various social and economic concerns.

He was reportedly caught red-handed while accepting a reward from the victims, according to the local police section.

Both influencers and citizen journalists are referred to as influencers in Uzbekistan.

If found criminal, Mr. Haydarov faces a prison sentence of up to 10 years.

He is not the only blog being held, either.

On February 8, Abduqodir Mominov, who was also accused of blackmail, was taken into custody. On August 4, he was found guilty and given a seven-year jail term.

Additionally, Khurshid Daliyev, the creator of the well-known media website Human, was born in January of this year. After an company attack, uz, its deputy director Muslim Mirzajonov, and a number of other journalists were detained.

Workers of the site have been accused of bribery and coercion, according to the State Security Service of Uzbekistan, the country’s national intelligence service. Their studies are being conducted covertly.

According to reviewers, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the president of Uzbekistan, has suffered as a result of these prosecutions.

He has made significant strides in reducing child and forced labor since taking office, opening the business to foreign investment.

However, it is questionable whether he will usher in a time of free conversation.

In 2016, Mr. Mirziyoyev took office with a strategy that greatly utilized social media and bloggers.

He was frequently accompanied by a sizable group of influencers while on the campaign trail.

He supported a bolder, freer press at the start of his rule.

However, as the 66-year-old begins his second term in office, the new string of arrests has raised questions.

Many Uzbek social critics, authors, and editors have defended Haydarov and others in their speeches.

Rasul Kusherbayev, a former MP and public activist, claimed that he knew Haydarov individually and did not accept the accusations made against him.

The legal charges brought against Olimjon are merely an educated guess from a law enforcement agency. If we live until that day comes and accountability is also present, only time will reveal what really occurred, according to Kusharbayev.

” Protesters are concerned that these people who actively exercise their right to free speech will face a number of costs.” Without this group of people who exercise freedom of speech and thought, democracy may be.

Legal journalists have been critical in Uzbekistan over the past few years in pushing the limits of the government’s limited media freedoms.

Although officials did monitor vocal bloggers and detain a number of social press figures, this was not widely regarded as an extensive assault on media freedoms, with some legal journalists still expressing the wish that those would be isolated incidents.

Uzbeks were able to openly discuss and criticize guidelines on social media sites like Facebook, YouTube, and Telegram.

As a result, blogs like Haydarov were able to take the initiative in the open discussion on contentious topics like corruption and nepotism in government organizations. Legal editors, many of whom are also protesters, influencers, and social scientists, attracted sizable followings.

However, it appears that the most recent prosecutions have made people realize how serious the government’s plan is to restrict free conversation.

Recently, legal journalists have become more outspoken about the government’s failure to keep his promises, the stagnant financial reforms, as well as the rise of oligarchy and nepotism.

Kamoliddin Rabbimov, a renowned political analyst, claims that Haydarov’s collar is the most recent” alarming signal” for civil society and cautions that the prosecutions could prove to be an expensive error and sabotage Uzbekistans’ efforts to enhance its reputation abroad.

It is simple to prove complaints against any blog or blogger in our state, where legal independence has not yet been established and political diversity hasn’t already developed. The internal and external reputations of nations around the world, however, are a factor, according to Mr. Rabbimov in an essay published on Kun. uz.

According to Mr. Rabbimov, the Uzbek legal program had begun to revert to its Russian history, with the security services now employing the same tactics as the Soviet KGB.

” We recall that we lived in a nation where the NKVD [ secret law of the Soviet Union ] and the KGB oppressed the populace. The heart of this organization is still present.” and there are numerous attempts to revive it. No one will be spared if this organization is restored.