While commenting the ban for his entry to Uzbekistan and deportation of his brother, Bokhodir Choriyev, the leader of Birdamlik Movement says that Shavkat Mirziyoyev is continuing Islam Karimov’s policy.
The leader of opposition Movement Bridamlik Bokhodir Choriyev, who lives in exile in the US, believes that President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev is now demonstrating that there will be no political liberalisation in the country. Mirziyoyev, who took over the leadership of the country after the death of dictator Islam Karimov in 2016, set barriers for representatives of political opposition, civil society, independent media and even their relatives – no one can even doubt this, continues the leader of Birdamlik.
On the 3rd of August 2018, once again, Tashkent officials did not allow the political emigrant, namely Bobur Hasan (Choriev), Choriyev’s blood brother to enter the country. He had left Uzbekistan in 2005 at the age of 19. The cause of emigration was persecution of the Choriyevs’ family by the officials for Bokhodir’s oppositional activities.
Having become a successful entrepreneur in the USA, Bobur Hasan wanted to return to Uzbekistan and bring maximum benefit to his motherland. “This was an act of patriotism, love to his motherland,” says Bokhodir about his brother’s attempt.
Bobur developed a project of building public toilets in Uzbekistan along most popular tourist routes in the country and in comfortable parking zones. Total project budget envisaged investing about 50 million US dollar. After deporting from Tashkent, when Bobur was returned to Moscow, which he used as transit city to come to Uzbekistan, the young man told that being a citizen of the US, he had to wait for long ten months at the Uzbek embassy in the USA to get a visa. The only thing he could get from the embassy were useless assurances that his application was under consideration…
Bobur Hasan: screenshot
Then Hasan decided to exercise the new Decree of the President of RUz, according to which citizens of 101 countries, including the USA, are allowed to stay in transit in Uzbekistan (having airtickets in hand for the following plane) for five days without a visa.
“ I was planning the stay in Uzbekistan for three days and I had a ticket to fly to Kazakhstan, according to the decree, I had all rights and grounds to leave the airport in Tashkent,” – said Bobur.
He also told us that the Tashkent airport staff listened to him with irony when he tried to tell them the while visiting the USA in autumn 2016, President Mirziyoyev invited all his compatriots to return to motherland and improve its economy.
“In Moscow, people were struck to see that they had deported me to Russia, who was born and grew up in Uzbekistan, – shared Bobur further. – It really hurt me …”
Bokhodir Choriyev says that by now, in almost two years after Mirziyoyev came to power in Uzbekistan, one can say for sure that the power in Tashkent continues the course of authoritarian regime and would not allow presence of political opposition and other independent social institutions and media.
“Intention of a political party and opposition is fighting the existing power, – says Choriyev. – Like Islam Karimov, Mirziyoyev does not want to see competition, he does not want see those who would be out of his control.”
“Why did Mirziyoyev agree to free the political prisoners, allowed more freedom to local mass-media?” In answer to this question, Choriyev says that the regime decided to be not very odious, but they however took into account the fact that those innocent political prisoners would not present any threat after so many years in jail, while local media can always be clamped down.
“What needs to be done?” – Birdamlik’s leader thinks that it is high time to stop marvelling Mirziyoyev’s alleged reforms and start demanding real political changes in the country from him, acknowledging the real state of the affairs in the country, and call a spade a spade.
“Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s authoritarian regime era has started in Uzbekistan, where there is no chance for political opposition to exist similarly to Islam Karimov’s dictatorship time,” – concludes Bokhodir Choriyev.
https://centre1.com/uzbekistan/bahodyr-choriev-dissidentam-uzbekistana-nadeyatsya-ne-na-chto/