IS EUS ENGAGEMENT POLICY WITH UZBEKISTAN BEARING FRUIT?
Bobomurod Mavlonov quickly joined his family in the central Uzbek city of Navoi after spending 2 1/2 years in an Uzbek prison for charges that he says were politically motivated. He says his release was a big surprise. “I returned to my family on the same day” that prison authorities told him of his release. One of them accompanied me — he brought me home. I am resting now. I should get some medical treatment.” The 62-year-old Mavlonov was one of more than two dozen human rights activists who had criminal charges brought against them in the aftermath of the bloody crackdown against protesters in the eastern Uzbek city of Andijon in May 2005, when security forces shot dead hundreds of demonstrators. He was convicted of corruption and abuse of office. Mavlonov, a member of the Erk opposition party, said the charges were trumped up. But he and four other activists — Saidjahon Zainabitdinov, Dilmurod Muhitdinov, Ikhtior Hamraev, and Bahodir Mukhtarov — were freed from prison on February
