Asia | A strongman on the Silk Road

Squashing dissidents in Uzbekistan

The country’s president may be preparing to extend his rule

BUKHARA, UZBEKISTAN - JANUARY 31: (----EDITORIAL USE ONLY â MANDATORY CREDIT - 'UZBEKISTAN SUPREME COURT / HANDOUT' - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS----) Defendants are seen during the trial of 22 defendants who were involved in the events that took place last year in the autonomous region of Karakalpakstan at the Bukhara Provincial Court in Bukhara, Uzbekistan on January 31, 2023. While 4 of the 22 defendants were placed under house arrest, the other defendants were sentenced to prison sentences ranging from 3 to 16 years. In the hearing, which started on November 28, 2022 and continued for more than 2 months, the defendants were tried for crimes such as attacking the constitutional regime, raiding, preparing, hiding and distributing materials that threaten public safety and order, possession of weapons and ammunition, and damage to public and private property. (Photo by Uzbekistan Supreme Court / Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Image: Getty Images
|BUKHARA

It was a performance straight from Uzbekistan’s dark Soviet past. In a courtroom in Bukhara in December, a group of alleged agitators against the government of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev leapt to their feet and, with heads bowed and hands on hearts, issued a synchronised plea for mercy. “We ask for forgiveness,” they intoned in unison.

This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “Quashing dissent on the Silk Road”

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