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Country Advice Uzbekistan Uzbekistan – UZB38621 – Treatment of journalists; artists; women – Andijan massacre – Mark Weil – Ilkhom Theatre – Umida Ahmedova 30 May 2011 1. Deleted. 2. Please provide information about Mark Weil, including motives behind his murder. Mark Weil and the Ilkhom Theatre Mark Weil was the founding director of the independent Ilkhom Theatre in Tashkent, Uzbekistan and continued as theatre director there until his murder in September 2007. Weil was born in 1952 in Tashkent to Ukrainian Jewish parents1 and formed the Ilkhom Theatre (‗Ilkhom‘ or ‗the theatre‘) with other students of the Tashkent Theatrical Institute in 1976. The establishment of the Ilkhom Theatre was one of the most important cultural moments in Uzbekistan – at its inception, the theatre was the only theatre in the Soviet Union to operate without state funding.2 After the theatre‘s first tour to Moscow in 1983, Ilkhom was ordered to ―perform only plays approved by the censor‖, in spite of this, the Ilkhom theatre continued to tour and perform new Uzbek works, and Western material. The theatre is well known for staging, ―new authors [and] writers [who had] not [been] passed by the party censor‖ 3 as well as canonical Russian and Western works including those by Alexander Pushkin, Berthold Brecht, William Shakespeare, Edward Albee and John Steinbeck4. Mark Weil was also associated with other well known Uzbek artists, including the exiled writer Hamid Ismailov.5 Despite his death, the Ilkhom continues to represent a free intellectual and artistic space amid ever increasing harassment of journalists and artists (see Question 3 and 5). Indeed, in 2007, the Ilkhom theatre was described as ―a beacon of hope in the darkness of the [current] 1 ‗Mark Weil - Courageous founder of Ilkhom, the Soviet Union‘s first independent theatre company‘ 2007, Times Online, 22 September, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article2507785.ece - Accessed 17 May 2011, Attachment 2 2 Whitlock, W. 2007, ‗Mark Weil - Director who brought independent theatre to Uzbekistan‘, The Guardian newspaper, 10 October, http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2007/oct/10/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries - Accessed 17 May 2011, Attachment 3 3 ‗Mark Weil - Courageous founder of Ilkhom, the Soviet Union‘s first independent theatre company‘ 2007, Times Online, 22 September, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article2507785.ece - Accessed 17 May 2011, Attachment 2 4 Schedule, Ilkhom Theatre homepage, http://www.ilkhom.com/english/repertoire/af - Accessed 25 May 2011; see also, http://www.ilkhom.com/english/repertoire/rept - Accessed 25 May 2011 5 Currently a BBC writer in residence, see ‗About Hamid Ismailov‘ 2010, BBC News online, 23 April, http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/arts/2010/04/100423_hamid_ismailov_biography.shtml - Accessed 30 May 2011, Attachment 4 Page 1 of 16 Karimov regime.‖6 The Guardian Newspaper commented in October 2007 that, ―the Ilkohm remains the only venue for original, uncensored drama in a country where freedom of expression is severely limited.‖7 The Murder of Mark Weil Mark Weil was beaten and stabbed8 outside his apartment on his way home from the dress rehearsal of Aeschylus‘s tragedy, The Oresteia. Writing for the Guardian Newspaper Monica Whitlock explains, ―it was to have been a triumphal start of a new season, in the bleakest times, and he was thrilled by the production and its exploration of revenge and the rule of law.‖ 9 Weil survived long enough to be taken to hospital, and was able to confirm he had not been robbed, although he could not identify his assailants.10 His death was not reported by mainstream Uzbek media.11 In the absence of any official comment from Uzbek authorities, online international press and commentary have variously speculated about the motivations for his murder. As an article posted at Neweurasia.net commented, ―speculation surrounding Weil‘s death will most likely continue for some time, not least because of reports of newspapers being ordered not to print any material.‖12 Weil‘s death occurred in the context of continued harassment of journalists, artists and human rights defenders in Uzbekistan and in the lead-up to the presidential election in December 2007. As the Political Handbook Online explains: Despite a two-term limit on the presidency, President Karimov deftly circumvented the constitutional prohibition to seek a third term in office. … [F]acing only token challenges from three other candidates, [President Karimov] easily won reelection on December 23, 2007. … The United States and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said the elections failed to meet international standards. The Russian-led Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) called the vote legitimate.13 6 ‗Mark Weil - Courageous founder of Ilkhom, the Soviet Union‘s first independent theatre company‘ 2007, Times Online, 22 September, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article2507785.ece - Accessed 17 May 2011, Attachment 2 7 Whitlock, W. 2007, ‗Mark Weil - Director who brought independent theatre to Uzbekistan‘, The Guardian Newspaper, 10 October, http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2007/oct/10/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries - Accessed 17 May 2011, Attachment 3 8 ‗Uzbekistan: The investigation of Mark Weil murder is finished‘ 2009, Ferghana.Ru, 11 August, http://enews.fergananews.com/news.php?id=1456&mode=snews - Accessed 30 May 2011, Attachment 5 9 Whitlock, W. 2007, ‗Mark Weil - Director who brought independent theatre to Uzbekistan‘, The Guardian newspaper, 10 October, http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2007/oct/10/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries - Accessed 17 May 2011, Attachment 3 10 Kisselgoff, A. 2007, ‗Mark Weil, Tashkent Theater Director, Dies at 55‘, New York Times, 8 September, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/08/world/asia/08weil.html - Accessed 30 May 2011, Attachment 6 11 Whitlock, W. 2007, ‗Mark Weil - Director who brought independent theatre to Uzbekistan‘, The Guardian newspaper, 10 October, http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2007/oct/10/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries - Accessed 17 May 2011, Attachment 3 12 CXW (pseudonym) 2007, ‗Speculation fails to drown official silence over Mark Weil‘s death‘, 20 September, newseurasia.net, http://www.neweurasia.net/culture-and-history/speculation-fails-to-drown-official-silence-over- mark-weil%E2%80%99s-death/ - Accessed 25 May 2011, Attachment 7 13 In late 2008, President Karimov reshuffled the positions of several regional governors and replaced the defense minister in what analysts viewed as attempts to consolidate further his power. Political Handbook of the World Online Edition, pp.1591-1598 (2010) Attachment 9 Page 2 of 16 In 2009, three men were convicted of Weil‘s death. The men explained that they were unhappy with Weil‘s representation of the Prophet Mohammed in the Ilkhom production of Imitating the Koran, based on a poem by Alexander Pushkin.14 Combating Islamic extremism has been increasingly used by the Karimov government as an excuse for excessive force15 – and was used in the Andijan massacre as the justification for involving the military. During the investigation of Weil‘s death, the former human rights activist and member of the Union of Independent Journalists, Oleg Sarapulov, was named as a suspect in the case by Tashkent police, and warrants for his arrest were circulated to police stations around the country.16 The news service UzNews.net reported: The Human Rights Alliance of Uzbekistan also said that the investigation into the murder of Mark Weil was being conducted by the Mirabad district police department with numerous violations of human rights… Moreover, … since a large number of gays are under the investigation, among whom there are high-ranking government officials, this case has turned into a profitable enterprise for police officers, demanding bribes from some suspects in return for the nondisclosure of their private lives. As for Oleg Sarapulov, a young man close to the Ilhom [sic] Theatre said that his summons to police [sic] is a routine move because following the murder of Weil almost all Tashkent gays had been questioned by police. Although, he admitted, police for some reasons have not issued ―warrants‖ for others.‖17 3. What is Slander of the Uzbek nation? Has this charge been brought against journalists/overseas Uzbekistan students? Individuals and organisations who are perceived to be anti-government are often the subject of civil and criminal charges relating to their work. The harassment, arrest, incarceration, ill-treatment and torture of journalists and human rights activists in Uzbekistan has been a constant feature of President Karimov‘s government (1990 – present). Articles 139 and 140 of the Uzbek Criminal Code set out the crimes of insult and slander. The national prosecuting authority has charged journalists and artists with slander and insult, listing ‗the Uzbek people‘ as the victim. Thus, the phrase ―Slander of the Uzbek nation‖ is not a charge in itself, but an innovative use of a standard criminal code provision mobilised against perceived criticism of the government, or Uzbek culture or tradition. Similar charges have been used against HIV/AIDS activists and activists speaking out against the Andijan massacre. For instance, Ezgulik, the only registered non-governmental human rights group in Uzbekistan, was sued twice, and was also charged under Articles 139 (libel) and 140 (insult) of the Uzbek Criminal Code for an article commenting on a custody battle over the children 14 Demytrie, R. 2010, ‗Uzbeks guilty of director murder ‘, BBC News Online, 18 February, http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/8521314.stm- Accessed 30 May 2011, Attachment 8 15 Johnson E. 2007, ‗Islamic Extremism May Spread in Uzbekistan, Crisis Group Says‘, 23 August, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=ajnk1Kavy6Dk&refer=europe - Accessed 30 May 2011 – Attachment 18 16 Demytrie, R. 2010, ‗Uzbeks guilty of director murder ‘, BBC News Online, 18 February, http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/8521314.stm - Accessed 30 May 2011, Attachment 8 17 Demytrie, R.

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