Summary: Uzbekistan: EU Presidency Declaration on sentences issued against Gulbahor Turaeva and Umida Niazova (4 May 2007: Brussels)
The European Union has learned with great concern about the harsh sentences of six respectively seven years in prison passed on 24 April and 1 May 2007 to Ms. Gulbahor Turaeva and Ms. Umida Niazova.
The EU also deplores the fact that international observers were not allowed to observe the trial despite previous requests.
Reiterating its concern about the situation of human rights defenders in Uzbekistan the EU urges the Uzbek authorities to immediately review the two cases and to fully respect the principles of due and fair trial according to Uzbekistan's commitments to international human rights standards. The EU calls on the Uzbek authorities to grant unhindered access to both women by family and lawyers.
The two sentences send a worrying signal by Uzbekistan in the perspective of a EU decision on whether to renew specific sanctions adopted in 2005 in relation to the Andijan tragedy and while Uzbekistan has agreed to hold a dialogue with the EU on human rights.
The Candidate Countries Turkey, Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania,Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, and the EFTA countries Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, as well as the Republic of Moldova align themselves with this declaration.
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