The second anniversary of the violence that rocked Uzbekistan’s western Karakalpakstan Sovereign Republic is approaching. Ahead of the anniversary of the tragedy, Uzbek authorities have been working to silence Karakalpaks inside and outside Uzbekistan who would seek to serve reminders about what happened on July 1-2, 2022.

Karakalpakstan is part of Uzbekistan, covering nearly 40% of the country’s territory. It is mostly desert, and the poorest region of Uzbekistan, but it is also the location of large oil and natural gas fields.

Karakalpakstan has a different status than the rest of Uzbekistan. It is nominally a sovereign republic with its own parliament and constitution. That constitution, and Uzbekistan’s constitution, include an article that allows Karakalpakstan to call a referendum on seceding from Uzbekistan.

In 2022, the Uzbek government was working on amendments to the country’s constitution. The aim was to prolong President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s stay in office past the two-term limit. Mirziyoyev was serving his second term at the time and an amendment changing the term limit from five to seven years was sufficient basis to declare that he was eligible to serve two more terms as president.

While a special committee was discussing the amendments, they also decided to remove parts of the Uzbek constitution that designated Karakalpakstan as a sovereign republic and gave it the right to secede.

When the draft constitution was published in late June 2022, it sparked strong resistance among many Karakalpaks, an ethnic group distinct from Uzbeks. There were protests in several towns. On July 1, Karakalpak activist, lawyer and community leader Dauletmurat Tazhimuratov went to the administration building in the Karakalpakstan capital Nukus to request permission to conduct a peaceful rally against the amendments concerning Karakalpakstan.

Tazhimuratov was detained. When word spread of his detention, thousands gathered outside the administration building. Authorities called for reinforcements to disperse the crowd. Human Rights Watch (HRW) later wrote, “Uzbek security forces unjustifiably used lethal force and other excessive responses to disperse mainly peaceful demonstrators,” including “inappropriate use of small arms and various types of grenades…”

Violence erupted and lasted into the early morning. Officially, 21 people were killed, though witnesses claimed the figure was several times higher.

A total of 64 people, 61 of them Karakalpaks, were later convicted. Most were sent to prison. Activist Tazhimuratov was given the most severe sentence, 16 years in prison. Two policemen found guilty of torturing suspects were given seven-year prison sentences and a third policeman was sentenced to three years for negligence leading to a person’s death and perjury.

Karakalpakstan’s nominal status as a sovereign republic and right to secede were restored to the draft constitution that was later passed in the April 2023 national referendum, though heightened security measures remained in place in Karakalpakstan.

That did not stop Karakalpaks outside Uzbekistan from continuing to bring attention to the tragedy and later trials and convictions.

Five Karakalpak activists in neighbouring Kazakhstan were detained in the last months of 2022 and held in custody for a year, though, in the end, all were freed and none were extradited to Uzbekistan.

Nietbai Urazbayev (Credit: Freedom for Eurasia).

In 2023, Uzbek authorities tried in absentia one of the leaders of the Karakalpak diaspora in Kazakhstan, Nietbai Urazbayev. Also tried in absentia was Aman Sagidullayev, leader of the unregistered Alga (Forward) Karakalpakstan movement that calls for independence. Sagidullayev fled Uzbekistan in 2011 and was eventually granted asylum in Norway.

Neither were in Karakalpakstan when the violence broke out. Both were convicted of attempting to disrupt the constitutional order, organising mass unrest, and distributing materials posing a threat to public security. Sagidullayev was sentenced to 18 years in prison and Urazbayev to 12 years.

Urazbayev moved to Kazakhstan in 2004, eventually obtaining Kazakh citizenship. In December 2023, “at Uzbekistan’s request,” Urazbayev was stripped of his Kazakh citizenship and there were concerns he could be extradited to Uzbekistan. The 54-year-old Urazbayev died in Almaty, Kazakhstan in January of a heart attack that relatives said was brought on by severe stress.

The new crackdown

Karakalpak activist Aqylbek Muratbai legally resided in Kazakhstan for more than 10 years. After the July 2022 violence, he regularly posted on social networks in English and Russian about Karakalpaks and the situation in Karakalpakstan. HRW wrote that Muratbai “became an important contact on human rights issues in Karakalpakstan for journalists and international rights groups.”

Muratbai was detained in Almaty in February. In March, a Kazakh court ordered Muratbai be kept in custody for 12 months.

Shortly after Muratbai’s detention, Uzbek authorities accused him of calling for mass unrest in Karakalpakstan. The basis for this charge was an appeal Muratbai posted in November 2023 calling on people in Karakalpakstan to turn off the lights in their homes for 16 minutes, one minute for every year activist and lawyer Tazhimuratov was sentenced to serve in prison. Following this court ruling, the UN office in Kazakhstan called on Kazakh authorities to ensure Karakalpaks’ asylum claims would be considered in accordance with international law “taking into account the latest information about the situation in the country of origin.”

At the end of March, Kazakh authorities detained Karakalpak activist Rasul Jumaniyazov in Astana, and at the start of April detained Karakalpak activist, Rinat Utambetov, in Almaty.

Ziuar Mirmanbetova (Credit: Freedom for Eurasia).

After her release, Ziuar Mirmanbetova, one of the five Karakalpaks detained in Kazakhstan in 2022, remained in the country, hoping to receive asylum there. In late May, the rights organisation Freedom for Eurasia reported that Mirmanbetova and her family were attacked and had been receiving threats on her social media accounts.

Back in Karakalpakstan

Authorities in Karakalpakstan remain vigilant for any hints of nationalist sentiment.

According to a late January report, at least three students said police had warned them about their social network posts in support of the imprisoned Dauletmurat Tazhimuratov.

One student, speaking under condition of anonymity, said he posted a message on Telegram that called Tazhimuratov a hero. Police detained him and put him in a “dark room without any windows.” The student said there were four men, two in police uniforms, and they told him, “We’ll kill you and no one will find out.”

In April, Freedom for Eurasia reported Karakalpak blogger Shingis Tyarov was jailed for 12 days. Tyarov had posted a video in which he questioned why “street names, building descriptions, and tourist attractions in sovereign Karakalpakstan are written in Uzbek, Russian and English but not in Karakalpak.”

The same report said two bloggers in Tashkent were detained after they posted a video of themselves asking people on the streets of the Uzbek capital if they knew what the capital of Karakalpakstan is, or if they knew any Karakalpak words.

Blogger Mustafa Tursnbayev, who regularly posted about life in Karakalpakstan, was arrested in May after posting videos on YouTube supporting use of the Karakalpak language.

At the start of June, Uzbekistan’s Supreme Court declared Alga Karakalpakstan to be an extremist group, though it turned out that the court decision was actually made in February, but not made public.

Uzbek authorities seem anxious to keep Karakalpak activists from reminding the world about what happened on July 1-2, 2022. Mirziyoyev’s government has been portraying the country as the “new” Uzbekistan, not the authoritarian Uzbekistan of Mirziyoyev’s predecessor, the late Islam Karimov. However, the treatment of Karakalpak activists and the strict discipline being enforced in Karakalpakstan show that, if anything, the treatment of Uzbekistan’s Karakalpaks is worse than it ever was.