Uzbek Rebels Get Long Jail Terms – Russian Agency

Excerpt from report by Russian news agency ITAR-TASS

Tashkent, 14 November: The Supreme Court of Uzbekistan has sentenced 15 active participants in the mass disorder in Andijon [in May this year] to between 14 and 20 years of imprisonment, having found them guilty of acts of terrorism, involvement in an attempted state coup, an attack on police and army officers and also of capturing administrative buildings. [Note: Previous report by the same agency at 1306 gmt said the defendants received from five to 20 years; Passage omitted: Three convicts received 20 years of imprisonment]

Baxtiyor Jamolov, who was presiding the trial, read out the verdict of guilty for seven hours in the presence of the defendants, and also a courtroom full with representatives of diplomatic missions, human rights activists and the press. The convicts and those attending the trial heard the verdict in silence, without voicing disagreement with the verdict of the Supreme Court.

[Passage omitted: Background on the trial]