The annual U.S. State Department report on human rights practices, released last week, also said President Islam Karimov's government arbitrarily arrests its critics, stifles independent media, and convicts peaceful Muslims on trumped-up extremism charges.
The Uzbek Foreign Ministry said in a statement today that the ongoing attempts of the State Department to replicate "trite facts and statements" that have already been refuted many times are "pitiful."
The Russian Foreign Ministry has reacted in a similar tone, saying the U.S. State Department report had a "biased, politicized, and confrontational character."
Copyright (c) 2006. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org
Posted March 13th, 2007 by Dinka
