In June 2004, Ruslan Sharipov fled Uzbekistan on his way to a work camp after receiving a two-year community service sentence. In October 2004, he obtained political asylum in the United States and is now living in California.
Case History
Ruslan Sharipov was one of several dozen students chosen to participate in a government-sponsored exchange program with U.S. universities in the fall of 1999. When Uzbek authorities canceled that program before he could complete his studies in the United States, Sharipov returned home and became a journalist voice against human rights violations of the Uzbek government. He was a correspondent for the Russian press agency Prima and president of the Independent Journalists Association of Uzbekistan.
On September 5, 2003, Sharipov addressed an appeal to United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan. In this letter, he describes being subjected to torture and threats while in pre-trial detention, and which he claims led him to confess to the charges of sodomy, sexual encounters with male minors, and procuring prostitutes. Sharipov’s claims include that he was forced to write a suicide note in case “I would kill myself … If I would write further appeals or complaints”; that he had a gas mask placed over his head and unknown substances sprayed into his throat; and that he was threatened with being injected with the AIDS virus.
Ruslan Sharipov appeared at his appeal hearing on September 25, 2003, with suspicious facial injuries that authorities maintain were sustained in a vehicle accident on the way to court–an accident in which only Sharipov allegedly sustained injuries. Mr. Sharipov had specifically requested not to be transported to his appeal hearing, for fear he might be abused in transit.