The regime of Shavkat Mirziyoyev continues to carry out political repression and now is fabricating a

criminal case against him in retaliation for his criticism of the government and human rights situation in
Uzbekistan (The fact pattern is presented in joint statement from Freedom House and seven human
rights organizations [1]1).

Miraziz was physically attacked by masked men on 28 March 2021. He was hospitalized as the result and
then he was illegally detained after he recovered from the operation. Later, a criminal case was opened
against him for “libel and public insult.”

Before and immediately after the attack, Miraziz was harassed by pro-government bloggers and
influential representatives of all branches of government in Uzbekistan. State-controlled media and pro-
government bloggers were spreading hate speech and fake information that he was “holding gay pride
parades”, which caused violent attacks by unruly homophobic crowd against young fans of Japanese
anime cartoons and South Korean K-pop artists; all this was condemned by the UN [2] 2.

Meanwhile, analysis of his blog posts shows that he merely called for the decriminalization of
consensual sexual relations between adult men and he openly stated that “being gay is a personal issue
and therefore no laws should consider it a crime”[3] 3. Moreover, according to criminal case files, a mere
sympathy and recognition of the existence of LGBT people is already a criminal offense according to the
homophobic regime of Shavkat Mirziyoyev [4] 4.

Uzbek opposition media noted that the attack on Miraziz Bazarov, who opposed corruption and any
form of discrimination falls within the ambit of the Article 155 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of
Uzbekistan (“Terrorism”). Also, calls to murder Miraziz and calls to violence against those showing
sympathy towards LGBT people made by pro-government bloggers are actually calls for terrorism
according to Uzbek Criminal Code. However, taking into account that pro-government bloggers who
urged their subscribers to kill Miraziz and conduct reprisals against LGBT people are now regarded as

1
[1] https://freedomhouse.org/article/uzbekistan-authorities-must-end-reprisals-against-blogger-miraziz-bazarov-
exercising-right
2
[2] https://eurasianet.org/uzbekistan-police-blame-victim-in-violent-attack-on-pro-lgbt-activist,
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/apr/02/new-laws-fuelling-increasing-hostility-and-anti-
lgbtq-violence-in-uzbekistan, https://uzbekistan.un.org/en/123546-statement-attributable-helena-fraser-un-
resident-coordinator-uzbekistan
3
[3] https://www.rferl.org/a/uzbekistan-gay-rights-campaigner-beaten-hospitalized/31174926.html
4
[4] The following screenshot of criminal case files presented to the lawyer of Miraziz states that “showing
sympathy towards LGBT (gay) people and recognition of their right to life and freedom” is regarded as criminal
action: https://ibb.co/R3pSpR9 . However, this reason for opening a criminal case is actually against Uzbek laws
and Uzbek constitution and the lawyer of Miraziz have made an official complaint about this fact, which was
ignored.
“victims” in the libel criminal case, Uzbek journalists conclude this as an act of “state-backed terrorism
against the blogger” [5]5.

Since Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s regime has failed to conduct effective political and economic reforms [6] 6,
the representatives of the regime are trying to divert the attention of the population by harassing LGBT
people and opposition bloggers. One way to suppress the opposition is beating journalists and bloggers
and fabricating criminal cases against them [7] 7.

In case of Miraziz, the physical attack, harassment by government controlled media and bloggers and
fabrication of criminal case is the direct revenge for his numerous blog posts about corruption and the
ineffectiveness of Mirziyoyev’s regime [8] 8.

For the sake of fabricating a criminal case, the regime is ready to cover real crimes. The applicants in the
criminal case against Miraziz are not only three pro-government bloggers who called for violence against
Miraziz but also a group of teachers from Tashkent’s School No. 110. This public school sponsored by
Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov is known for its sex scandals including possible cases of sexual
harassment by school teachers [9]9.

Meanwhile, the regime of Shavkak Mirziyoyev is seeking to hire lobbyists in Washington to whitewash
its policies of state-sponsored homophobia and political reprisals. Recently, a resolution was introduced
to the US Congress in support of the current regime of Shavkat Mirziyoyev [10] 10.

5
[5] [In Russian] – “Uzbek government actually supported terrorist attack against blogger Miraziz Bazarov”
http://www.asiaterra.info/obshchestvo/vlasti-uzbekistana-fakticheski-podderzhali-terroristicheskoe-napadenie-
na-blogera-miraziza-bazarova
6
[6] I.e. nominal GDP per capita decreased by 25% and total external debt of Uzbekistan has grown from about
30% of GDP in 2016 to 60% in early 2021: [In Russian] https://www.gazeta.uz/ru/2021/05/14/debt/,
https://www.gazeta.uz/ru/2021/05/28/gdp-per-capita/
7
[7] https://thediplomat.com/2021/05/uzbek-blogger-otabek-sattoriy-sentenced-to-6-5-years/,
https://www.rferl.org/a/majlis-podcast-uzbekistan-sends-message-to-bloggers-political-
opponents/31257601.html
8
[8] Mainly via his Telegram blog - https://t.me/bazarov_channel
9
[9] This includes “measuring socks’ height to ‘reveal’ LGBT students” [In Russian]
https://rus.ozodlik.org/a/31210055.html and a message from allegedly a student of the school about sexual
harassment [In Russian] https://ibb.co/VjyXQd8
10
[10] https://www.congress.gov/117/bills/hres415/BILLS-117hres415ih.xml