Uzbekistan: Activist Free but Crackdown Widening

Uzbek authorities released the rights defender Alisher Karamatov from prison on April 12, 2012, after he served almost two thirds of a 9-year prison sentence. Karamatov, an active member of the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan, who monitored violations of social and economic rights, in particular the rights of farmers and the disabled, was detained in April 2006, prosecuted, and convicted on politically-motivated charges in June 2006.