In Uzbekistan, the well known blogger and left wing activist Aziz Khakimov was given a harsh sentence of 4 years and 2 months in prison for speaking out against the rehabilitation of the leaders of the Basmachi movement of 1918-1944. His only “crime” was that he called them murderers and executioners of the people!
The only thing that was dropped from Khakimov was the absurd charge of “war propaganda” when he used Soviet posters from the period of the Great Patriotic War. But this is also temporary, as the investigators have focused specifically on their communist symbolism, even though it has not yet been officially banned in the republic.
However, on multiple occasions, the vice speaker of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis (parliament) of Uzbekistan and the leader of the nationalist party “Milliy Tiklanish” (“National Revival”), Alisher Kadyrov, has called for the banning of communist ideology and Soviet symbolism. He and his supporters also advocated for the cancellation of the celebration of Victory Day and for criminal prosecution for glorifying the USSR.
In fact, in Kazakhstan, deputies from the Ak Zhol party proposed banning communist ideology, even though the Communist Party was officially dissolved by a decision of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kazakhstan back in 2015. Similar proposals were also made in parliament to ban Soviet symbols and to abolish the celebration of Victory Day.
Berik Abdygaliuly, a deputy of the Mazhilis of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan and a member of the “State Commission for the Final Rehabilitation of Victims of Political Repression,” went even further. He expressed his intention to introduce criminal liability for insulting Mustafa Shokay (Chokay), the ideological inspirer and founder of the Turkestan Legion of the Wehrmacht and the Muslim SS units, “if someone starts writing tomorrow that ‘Mustafa Shokay is a German traitor.’”
Therefore, it cannot be ruled out that Kazakhstan may eventually introduce such a practice of condemning people for criticizing the rehabilitation process of the Basmachi and members of the Turkestan Legion of the Wehrmacht, especially since the USSR is already presented in the seven volume history of the Republic of Kazakhstan as a state that carried out the genocide of the Kazakh people. We must not forget that Uzbekistan is a member of the Organization of Turkic States, which means that this “law enforcement practice” may be adopted by other members of the association.
Moreover, less than a month ago in Azerbaijan, communists Ibrahim Asadli and Abdullah Ibrahimli were sentenced to two years in prison each, while Elchin Bayramli and Mehman Zeynalov received one and a half years each—all for displaying the flags of the USSR and the Azerbaijan SSR, and Lenin’s works were presented as subversive literature!
It is obvious that such trials and prison sentences for supporters of socialist views are intended to intimidate all those who oppose antisocial reforms, privatization, and the transfer of rare and rare earth metal deposits to Western corporations, as well as those who condemn the rehabilitation process for those who fought with weapons in hand against Soviet power within the republics and on the side of Nazi Germany.
We demand the immediate release of Aziz Hakimov, Azerbaijani communists, and all bloggers and journalists in the republics of the Organization of Turkic States who have been sentenced to prison terms for their views!
socialism.kz