05.07.2008 02:01 msk

Ferghana.Ru
Mutabar Tadjibaeva, the well-known Uzbek human rights activist, has accused the Uzbek government of deliberately allowing her health to deteriorate during almost three years of imprisonment and depriving her of the right to receive better post-surgical care in the capital, Tashkent.
A renowned human rights activist, Tadjibaeva released a statement on July 4 saying the unexplained surgery she received while in jail “was made to deliberately shorten my life,” and she has felt much worse since the surgery. Besides that, the activist is not able to receive a thorough medical examination and appropriate treatment in the capital because police have banned her from leaving the city of Margilan, where she is currently living.
“I cannot get out to receive proper treatment and am virtually left to the mercy of my illness,” Tadjibaeva says.
“This suits the authorities well. They understand that here [in Margilan] I won’t be able to receive an independent medical examination and competent treatment,” she said.
A leader of the human rights organization “Club of Burning Hearts” and a 2005 Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Tadjibaeva was arrested in October 2005, shortly after she released a statement accusing the government of the May 2005 bloodshed in the southern city of Andijan when hundreds of peaceful protesters were killed, according to international human rights watchdogs.
Tadjibaeva was sentenced to eight years in prison. She was released in early June 2008 during the visit of Richard Boucher, Assistant US Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, but has to serve three more years of a suspended sentence.