Uznews.net – The Supreme Court of Karakalpakstan has received a recommendation from Tashkent that it hears a complaint filed by the family of the convicted Karakalpak journalist Salijon Abdurahmanov.

The Uzbek Supreme Court initiated the hearing of the complaint by Shukurjon Abdurahmanova, the wife of Adurahmanov who was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2008, in the Karakalpak Supreme Court.

Abdurahmanov’s family received the notification of the hearing on 25 July and was first very pleased about it. However, they were disappointed already next day.

The point is that the Uzbek Supreme Court said in a letter that the Karakalpak court should hear the complaint and rule on it by no later than 26 July, but the Abdurahmanovs have received nothing from the Karakalpak Supreme Court so far.

The journalist’s former lawyer and brother Bahrom Abdurahmanov described the Karakalpak court’s silence as its unwillingness to consider the case objectively and fairly.

“The Supreme Court of Karakalpakstan has repeatedly upheld the ruling of the lower court that sentenced Salijon to 10 years in prison in October 2008 without any proof of his guilt,” Bahrom Abdurahmanov said.

“It is hard to expect a fair ruling from it,” he added.

Salijon Abdurahmanov, 60, Uznews.net’s correspondent in Karakalpakstan, was detained in June 2008 after police found a packet with drugs in the boot of his car.

From the very beginning Salijon said that the drugs had been planted in his car and found during a routine traffic check.

He was initially charged with the use of drugs, but later when tests showed he was not a drug addict he was charged with intending to sell drugs, which entails a tougher punishment.

However, neither investigation, nor trial managed to proof his guilt, as investigators did not even bother to check whether there were the journalist’s fingerprints on the packet and establish who supplied the drugs to him. Despite this, he was sentenced to 10 years and is now serving his term in the Karshi prison.