Uzbek Gay Rights Campaigner Hospitalized After Attack

TASHKENT — Uzbek gay rights campaigner Miraziz Bazarov has been hospitalized after being brutally attacked by unknown men.

Physicians at the Tashkent Traumatology Hospital told RFE/RL on March 29 that the 29-year-old government critic sustained multiple injures to his internal organs and legs, including an open fracture of the left leg, and a concussion.

They said he was brought to the hospital the night before.

According to the doctors, Bazarov’s situation was very serious and he will be moved to another hospital, where he may need to undergo brain surgery.

One of Bazarov’s neighbors, who said he witnessed the assault, told RFE/RL that the blogger was attacked in the evening on March 28 near his apartment block by three masked men, one of whom had a baseball bat.

According to the witness, the attack lasted only about three minutes.

The director of the Europe and Central Asia division at Human Rights Watch (HRW), Hugh Williamson, condemned the attack, calling it “totally awful.”

“Uzbekistan has committed at UN Human Rights Council this month — in theory — to uphold int’l human rights standards. It should do so! End attacks on lgbt people,” Williamson tweeted on March 28.

Last week, HRW said in a statement that gay men in Uzbekistan face arbitrary detention, prosecution, and imprisonment and called on Tashkent to guarantee lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights and decriminalize same-sex sexual conduct.

Earlier on March 28, Bazarov told journalists that a weekly public event for fans of Japanese anime and Korean pop music, which he organizes each Sunday, had been disrupted by dozens of aggressive men who chanted “Allah Akbar!” or “God is great.”

Bazarov is known for his criticism of the Uzbek government on his Telegram channel.

He has called on the authorities to decriminalize same-sex sexual conduct in the Central Asian country, criticized President Shavkat Mirziyoev’s government for its poor efforts fighting corruption, and questioned the efficiency of ongoing restrictions to battle the coronavirus pandemic.

Last summer, Bazarov was questioned by State Security Service investigators after he called on the International Monetary Fund and the Asian Development Bank on Facebook not to provide loans to Uzbekistan without strict control over how the funds are used.

Bazarov earlier told RFE/RL that in recent weeks he had received many online threats, of which he had informed the police, but they had not taken any action.