Uzbekistan massacre 'show trial' condemned

MOSCOW - Harsh prison sentences have been imposed on 15 alleged Islamist plotters in Uzbekistan in a case described by rights groups as the Andijan massacre show trial.

Uzbekistan's supreme court found all 15 men guilty of murder, rioting, hostage-taking, membership of banned Islamist groups and attempting to establish an Islamist caliphate in the town of Andijan, where up to 700 people were killed by security forces in May.

The men, who pleaded guilty during a five-hour session in which they were confined in a metal cage, face 14 to 20 years in prison.

Human rights groups have dismissed the Government's version of events, and the evidence of a state-orchestrated massacre has shamed allies of President Islam Karimov in Washington and London into demanding action from Uzbekistan.

Campaigners say the 15 men are scapegoats for the massacre, that they were tortured into confessing, and that their trial resembled Stalin's show trials of the 1930s.

The attempted "coup" was brutally put down by Uzbek security forces whom human rights groups accuse of turning fire on civilians and of mowing down between 500 and 700 mostly unarmed people.

Karimov's hardline regime, which became a pariah state overnight, insists that only 187 people were killed and that most of the dead were "terrorists" aided by foreign extremists and radical Islamist groups such as Hizb ut-Tahrir, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, and the Islamic Movement of Turkmenistan.

The judge in the case said the men had planned to blow up a mountain pass sealing off the volatile Ferghana valley, where Andijan is located. He repeated Government allegations that foreign media had exaggerated the event and acted irresponsibly by portraying the "coup" as a peaceful demonstration.

The trial has been condemned by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.

America's discomfort with the massacre saw relations between Tashkent and Washington deteriorate and led to Karimov asking the US military to shut down an air base in the southeast of the country.

Earlier this year the European Union imposed "smart sanctions" on Tashkent after Karimov rejected calls for an international inquiry.

At the same time, Karimov's relations with Russia have improved. Yesterday Karimov and Russian leader Vladimir Putin signed a strategic military alliance which gives Russia back some of the influence it lost in Uzbekistan when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

Under its terms, the countries have the right to offer assistance to and use each other's military facilities in the event of a crisis or third party aggression.

Case closed

* Troops shot at demonstrators in Andijan after a local prison and government headquarters were stormed in May.

* Up to 700 people were killed by soldiers in the protests.

* President Islam Karimov blamed the violence on Islamists and denied troops shot at civilians.

* 15 men have been found guilty of murder, rioting, membership of a banned Islamic group and attempting to create an Islamic caliphate in Uzbekistan.

* Campaigners say they are scapegoats for the civilian massacre, and the UN has condemned the Government.

- INDEPENDENT