Uzbekistan: British Embassy Staffer Fined by Court for Contact with Activists

A press secretary for the British Embassy in Uzbekistan has been fined $1,600 for meeting with Uzbek human rights advocates, fergananews.com, an independent Central Asian website reported last week.


Leonid Kudryavtsev was charged under the Uzbek administrative code for "violation of procedure for organizations, conducting meetings, rallies, streets actions or demonstrations," punishable by fines or up to 15 days of arrest.

Kudryavtsev said that he learned of the case against him on June 9 when he was summoned for interrogation. The police used a supposed letter from irate citizens as a pretext for the summons. The accusatory letter goes into detail with sarcasm-laden claims about Elena Urlayeva, a prominent Tashkent-based human rights advocate who is often in the news for monitoring child labor in the cotton industry. She is claimed to be involved in "hooligan activity" and "assemblages disguised as trainings" at the Embassy with Kudryavtsev.

Kudryavtsev told fergananews.com that the Embassy does in fact meet with Tashkent human rights advocates and has held two such meetings in the past year which were strictly educational in nature, fergananews.com reported:

We explain to local human rights defenders the basics about many local laws and international covenants ratified by Uzbekistan. These are activities of the Embassy... so it is surprising that I am on trial.

Why is the Uzbek regime going after a vulnerable member of the British staff who can't claim diplomatic immunity, because he is an Uzbek citizen? The authorities are always trying to block access to the foreign diplomatic community by the local independent human rights groups and this is one way they "send a message."

This article is abridged from the original first published on Eurasianet.org