9 May 2006: In a further sign of improved relations between Tashkent and Moscow since Western condemnation over Andijon began, Uzbek President Islam Karimov calls in a letter to Vladimir Putin for closer ties between Uzbekistan and Russia.
2 May 2006: Uzbek scholar Bakhtiyor Bobojonov says the philosophy of the Akramiya group at the heart of the trials that sparked the initial Andijon protests poses a serious challenge to the idea of a secular state in Uzbekistan.
8 March 2006: The U.S. State Department claims in its annual human-rights report that Uzbekistan poor record worsened considerably during 2005. High unemployment and endemic corruption precipitated the Andijon uprising, the State Department says, which led in turn to a wave of repressive government reaction that dominated the remainder of the year. The report alleges arbitrary arrests, suspicious deaths in custody, and systematic torture and abuse of detainees.
1 March 2006: A member of the opposition coalition Sunshine Uzbekistan, Nodira Hidoyatova, is sentenced to 10 years in prison for economic crimes in a case that supporters insist is retaliation for her group's vocal condemnation of officials' handling of the Andijon violence. Sunshine Uzbekistan coleader Sanjar Umarov is sentenced days later to more than 10 years in prison for "heading an organized criminal group" and for economic crimes.
17 February 2006: The UN High Commissioner for Refugees urges authorities in Kyrgyzstan not to extradite four Uzbek refugees who fled the violence in Andijon, asking the Kyrgyz to consider the possible fate that awaits them in their homeland. (In March, Uzbek authorities will give the UNHCR one month to leave the country.)
26 December 2005: The Uzbek Prosecutor-General's Office says investigations into the Andijon uprising and the resulting trials have been conducted in accordance with the law and "adhering to the obligations to implement international standards."
23 December 2005: The Uzbek Supreme Court announces it has sentenced 37 more people to prison terms of 10-18 years for crimes -- including murder and terrorism -- over acts committed in Andijon in May. This raises the total number of individuals convicted to more than 150.
21 December 2005: News emerges that Uzbek Interior Minister Zokir Almatov has left Germany -- where he was undergoing medical treatment -- after a German lawsuit is filed against him and 11 others for alleged abuses tied to the Andijon crackdown. Germany adopted legislation in 2002 allowing it to prosecute foreign officials for serious crimes regardless of where they were committed. (Almatov soon resigns, citing health reasons.)
Amnesty International claims eight Uzbek nationals were forcibly returned from Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan in November -- four of whom are sought on sedition charges. The group suggests that they are at risk of torture or other ill treatment at the hands of Uzbek authorities.
The Supreme Court sentences 42 men to prison terms in connection with Andijon. (It later adjusts that figure to 41.)
14 December 2005: Closed trials begin for 78 more defendants accused of "terrorist acts" in connection with the Andijon uprising, as well as for 36 members of the security services accused of negligence in connection with the events.
2 December 2005: Twenty-five more defendants are convicted in two separate closed trials and sentenced to jail terms ranging from 12 to 22 years, according to a subsequent Supreme Court announcement.
1 December 2005: Uzbekistan's Supreme Court confirms that closed trials are taking place of 58 more suspects in connection with the Andijon violence.
30 November 2005: Human Rights Watch says Uzbek authorities have barred it from observing fresh trials relating to Andijon.
23 November 2005: The UN General Assembly's Social and Humanitarian Committee urges Uzbek authorities to stop harassing witnesses to the events in Andijon.
14 November 2005: The Tashkent court convicts all 15 Andijon defendants on terrorism-related charges.
26 October 2005: Lawyers begin closing arguments in the Andijon trial.
14 October 2005: Andijon resident Mahbuba Zokirova shocks observers by testifying in the Andijon trial that government troops fired on peaceful demonstrators. (See also, "One Woman's Testimony....")
3 October 2005: Uzbek soldiers testify about their role in suppressing the Andijon uprising.
30 September 2005: The EU imposes sanctions against Uzbekistan, including an arms embargo, in response to the Uzbek government's refusal to allow an independent investigation of the Andijon events.
20 September 2005: Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International issue new reports accusing the Uzbek government of covering up the Andijon events. In Tashkent, the trial of 15 defendants on charges of inciting unrest begin. All 15 plead guilty on their first day in court. (See also, "Message In A Courtroom.")
16 September 2005: The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on 16 September airlifts 11 Uzbek refugees from Kyrgyzstan to London. Four Uzbek citizens remain in detention in Osh. Kyrgyz Prosecutor-General Azimbek Beknazarov terms "absurd" Uzbek allegations that terrorists allegedly responsible for violence in Andijon on 12-13 May trained in Kyrgyzstan.
15 September 2005: First Deputy Prosecutor-General Anvar Nabiev briefs journalists in Tashkent on the upcoming 20 September trial of 15 alleged organizers of violence in Andijon, who include three Kyrgyz citizens. Nabiev charges that Kyrgyz authorities had advance knowledge of the attacks and alleges that "correspondents of such media outlets as the BBC, the Associated Press, Deutsche Welle, Ozodlik [RFE/RL's Uzbek Service] and other news agencies, by order from external forces, blatantly and dishonestly circulated biased and slanderous information about the events in foreign mass media..."
14 September 2005: Zafar Khakimov, head of the migration department in Kyrgyzstan's Foreign Ministry, announces that 11 Uzbek detainees will soon be transferred to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for subsequent evacuation to a third country. The fate of four detainees remains undecided.
12 September 2005: A civil court in Tashkent suspends the activities of U.S.-based exchange organization IREX for six months, arguing that IREX had engaged in activities and pursued goals not covered by the organization's charter.
9 September 2005: A civil court in Tashkent orders the U.S.-based media organization Internews to close its office in Uzbekistan. The Kyrgyz Prosecutor-General's Office announces that two investigative operations conducted with the participation of Uzbek authorities failed to uncover evidence that militants used bases in Kyrgyzstan to prepare for violence in Andijon.
7 September 2005: The Uzbek Prosecutor-General's Office issues a statement suggesting that foreign organizations had advance knowledge that violence was going to take place in Andijon in early May. It charges that "representatives of foreign human-rights organizations, media, and international charitable organizations, who had been informed in advance, began to gather in areas that border on Andijon...before events even began, starting on 9-10 May, with some gathering even earlier."
6 September 2005: Acting Kyrgyz Defense Minister Ismail Isakov denies the Uzbek charges, saying: "Nobody was trained by any extremist groups or instructors on the territory of Kyrgyzstan... Therefore the accusations [by Uzbek prosecutors] are baseless. We think that they are trying to blame somebody else for their own bad work."
5 September 2005: The Uzbek Prosecutor-General's Office presents a report on the violence in Andijon. Calling the violence a "meticulously planned act organized by external destructive forces" and aimed at the creation of an Islamic state in Uzbekistan, the report charges that "as a staging ground for the terrorist acts, the 'stage managers' chose southern Kyrgyzstan, where in January-April 2005 foreign instructors trained some 70 religious extremists in subversive and terrorist methods."
2 September 2005: Vitalii Maslovskii, an adviser to the Bishkek office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, says that the governments of Finland, the Netherlands, and Sweden have officially agreed to accept 11 of the 15 Uzbek citizens currently detained in Osh.
31 August 2005: President Karimov calls for "vigilance" and warns that Uzbekistan has been targeted in an "information war." Uzbek gas transport company Uztransgaz denies that it cut off gas supplies to Kyrgyzstan after that country allowed the evacuation of 439 Uzbek refugees to Romania in late July. Uztransgaz describes the decision as a response to previous missed Kyrgyz payments for gas.
27 August 2005: Kubanychbek Jusupov, deputy head of the Kyrgyz gas company Kyrgyzgaz, says that Uzbekistan has unilaterally withdrawn from a July agreement on gas shipments to Kyrgyzstan. "On 19 July we signed the agreement," the report quoted Jusupov explains, "But at the end of July, after our government conducted the humanitarian evacuation of 439 refugees to Romania, Tashkent unilaterally annulled the agreement."
26 August 2005: Nosir Zokirov, a correspondent for RFE/RL's Uzbek Service, is sentenced to a six-month prison term for slandering a state official.
25 August 2005: Svetlana Ortiqova, spokesperson for the Uzbek Prosecutor-General's Office, warns that the 439 Uzbek refugees recently airlifted to Romania include "terrorists who were involved in attacks on law-enforcement bodies."
23 August 2005: The Uzbek Prosecutor-General's Office accuses the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) of defending terrorists. Detailing accusations of narcotics trafficking and religious extremism against four Uzbek citizens currently detained in Kyrgyzstan and calling the previous removal of refugees to Romania a violation of the 1951 Geneva Convention, the Prosecutor-General's Office states, "By defending terrorists and criminals at a time of far-ranging struggle against international terrorism, the UNHCR is damaging the UN's international reputation."
20 August 2005: Svetlana Ortiqova, spokeswoman for the Prosecutor-General's Office in Uzbekistan, describes as "unfounded fabrications" reports that Uzbekistan repatriated four refugees from Kyrgyzstan and subsequently tortured one of them to death. She says that the men voluntarily returned to Uzbekistan, where they are now in pretrial detention.
19 August 2005: Nikolai Patrushev, director of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), tells journalists that the FSB sent personnel to Uzbekistan to aid in the investigation of violence in Andijon on 12-13 May.
13 August 2005: Uzbek authorities deport Rotar, who, in a subsequent interview, links his deportation to the general crackdown on media in Uzbekistan in the wake of violence in Andijon on 13 May.
11 August 2005: Igor Rotar, the Central Asia correspondent for the Norway-based religious-freedom organization Forum 18, is detained by Uzbek authorities upon his arrival at Tashkent Airport.
8 August 2005: Kyrgyz rights advocates state that several hundred unregistered refugees from Uzbekistan who fled violence in Andijon on 12-13 May are currently residing in Kyrgyzstan.
4 August 2005: An Uzbek court finds two local employees of U.S.-based media organization Internews guilty of illegally producing video and print materials but imposes no penalties under a recent amnesty. Kyrgyz Prosecutor-General Azimbek Beknazarov says that Kyrgyzstan is willing to hand over 15 Uzbek citizens currently detained in Osh to any country that is willing to grant them refugee status and accept them, but he warns they could face deportation to Uzbekistan if no one accepts them.
1 August 2005: Uzbekistan's Foreign Ministry harshly criticizes the evacuation of 439 Uzbek refugees from Kyrgyzstan to Romania as a "violation of all procedures and norms of international law and UN resolutions."
29 July 2005: A group of 439 Uzbek refugees arrives in Romania from Kyrgyzstan. Another 15 Uzbeks remain in detention in Osh. Uzbekistan's Foreign Ministry informs the U.S. Embassy in Tashkent that the United States has 180 days to vacate the Karshi-Khanabad air base in Uzbekistan. A trip to Uzbekistan by U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns is cancelled.
27 July 2005: Carlos Zaccagnini, head of the UNHCR mission in Kyrgyzstan, announces the beginning of an operation to transfer 451 Uzbek refugees from a camp in southern Kyrgyzstan to the country's Manas international airport in preparation for transport to a third country. The fate of 29 refugees detained in Osh remains undecided.
22 July 2005: Health officials in the Suzak District of Kyrgyzstan's Jalal-Abad Oblast temporarily quarantine a camp for more than 400 Uzbek asylum seekers after eight asylum seekers became ill.
18 July 2005: A meeting of EU foreign ministers condemns "the Uzbek authorities' refusal to allow an independent international inquiry into the recent events in [Andijon]."
16 July 2005: Uzbekistan's Embassy in Kyrgyzstan issues a statement warning that "the puppeteers who want to destabilize the Ferghana Valley by means of obedient international organizations and NGOs continue to exploit the fallout from the failed plan to bring off an armed coup in Uzbekistan in order to justify their step-by-step imposition of the so-called 'project to advance democracy.'"
13 July 2005: U. S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey warns that U.S. aid to Uzbekistan this year depends on Uzbekistan's response to Washington's call for an independent international investigation into violent unrest in Andijon.
11 July 2005: Bahodir Dehqonov, the prosecutor of Uzbekistan's Andijon Province, raises the official death toll from violence in Andijon from 176 to 187. He says that 94 terrorists, 20 law-enforcement officials, 11 soldiers, 57 ordinary residents, and five unidentified individuals died.
7 July 2005: Uzbekistan's Foreign Ministry announces that it made the air base at Karshi-Khanabad available to U.S. forces in 2001 in order to help remove a threat to Uzbekistan from Afghanistan and for that purpose only. The ministry emphasizes that the United States has made "virtually no payments" to compensate the Uzbek side for expenses associated with operations at the base. Kyrgyz Prosecutor-General Azimbek Beknazarov says that Kyrgyz authorities have received requests from Uzbek authorities to extradite 231 Uzbek asylum seekers.
5 July 2005: The U.S.-based media organization Internews announces that the Uzbek government has filed criminal charges against its staff. In the final declaration of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan) summit in Astana, the SCO asks the forces in the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan to clarify a time frame for withdrawal from U.S. bases in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.
29 June 2005: The U.S. State Department calls on Kyrgyzstan not to extradite any asylum seekers to Uzbekistan.
28 June 2005 In a telephone interview from an undisclosed location, Qobil Parpiev, a leader in the armed uprising in Andijon on 12-13 May, says: "[Uzbek President] Islam Karimov is accusing us of ties to terrorists, but we deny these accusations. Let an independent commission investigate and give its assessment."
22 June 2005: Uzbekistan's embassy in Kyrgyzstan announces that the Uzbek Prosecutor-General's Office has requested the extradition of at least 13 asylum seekers currently housed in a camp in Kyrgyzstan's Jalal-Abad Oblast.
20 June 2005: The OSCE announces that OSCE Chairman-in-Office and Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel "has reiterated his call for a credible, independent, and international investigation" into events in Andijon. The OSCE issues a report based on eyewitness testimony concluding that "force was used repeatedly against unarmed civilians [in Andijon on 13 May]," and noting that "an estimate based on the information given by refugees would indicate that 300-500 people may have been killed on 13 May."
18 June 2005: Uzbekistan's Foreign Ministry denies media reports of a link between restrictions on the U.S. air base at Karshi-Khanabad and the U.S. position on 13 May events in Andijon. "The decision to limit flights by the U.S. Air Force from Karshi-Khanabad was made three months before events in Andijon for certain reasons about which the American side was well-informed," the ministry's statement read. "If one follows the logic of the American media, another conclusion suggests itself: the Andijon events were likely a consequence of Uzbekistan's decision to limit the flights of American aircraft, and not the reason [for it]."
16 June 2005: Anvar Nabiev, Uzbekistan's deputy prosecutor-general, announces that 176 people were killed in unrest in Andijon on 13 May. Identifying 79 of those killed as "terrorists," Nabiev says that the "terrorists" seized 65 hostages, killing 14 of them. In subsequent clashes, the "terrorists" killed 20 policemen, 11 soldiers, and 45 ordinary residents. The identities of 21 people who were killed are still being established, Nabiev says. Baitemir Ibraev, a prosecutor in Kyrgyzstan's Jalal-Abad Oblast, says that 12 Uzbek asylum seekers who had been serving prison terms in Andijon on charges of religious extremism have been transferred from a camp to a detention facility in Osh.
15 June 2005: A U.S. Defense Department spokesman confirms that the Uzbek government has banned nighttime flights and curtailed the use of heavy cargo aircraft at the United States' Karshi-Khanabad air base in Uzbekistan.
13 June 2005: EU foreign ministers give Uzbekistan until the end of June to agree to an independent inquiry into violence in Andijon on 13 May or face sanctions, saying they will "keep under review the case for a partial suspension of cooperation mechanisms between the EU and Uzbekistan."
10 June 2005: The UN Office of the High Commissioner on Refugees issues a press release to "express shock at the deportation of four Uzbek men from Kyrgyzstan and urge the Kyrgyz authorities to halt further deportations of Uzbek asylum seekers." In an official statement, Uzbekistan's Foreign Ministry emphatically rejects the European Parliament's resolution and alleges that "dozens of foreign citizens took part in the riots that occurred in Andijon."
9 June 2005: The European Parliament issues a resolution stating that members of the body "strongly condemn the excessive, brutal and indiscriminate use of force by the Uzbek security forces and urges the Uzbek authorities to bring those responsible for the massacre in Andijon to trial."
8 June 2005 U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack tells reporters that eyewitness accounts indicate that Uzbek government forces killed hundreds of civilians in Andijon on 13 May.
6 June 2005: The U.S. Peace Corps announces that it has suspended its program in Uzbekistan, noting that "the visas of 52 Peace Corps volunteers and the Peace Corps country director [recently] expired and were not renewed." (See "Crackdown On Journalists, Activists Intensifies.") 7 June 2005: Human Rights Watch issues a report charging that Uzbek government forces perpetrated a "massacre" in Andijon on 13 May.
4 June 2005: Acting Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Roza Otunbaeva says that a camp housing nearly 500 Uzbek asylum seekers has been moved away from the Uzbek border and deeper into Kyrgyz territory.
2 June 2005: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov alleges widespread terrorist involvement in Andijon violence, saying, "We have information that a number of Islamic extremists, structures of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, remnants of the Taliban, and certain Chechen terrorists were involved in events in Uzbekistan."
31 May 2005: U.S. President George W. Bush comments on Andijon, saying, "We want to know fully what took place there in Uzbekistan, and that's why we've asked the International Red Cross to go in."
29 May 2005: Three U.S. senators tell a news conference in Tashkent that Uzbekistan must allow an independent investigation of allegations that government troops fired on unarmed demonstrators in Andijon. No Uzbek officials agree to meet with the senators.
27 May 2005: RFE/RL is led to what appears to be a mass grave containing 37 gravesites in Andijon. RFE/RL later learned that the guide who led the correspondent to the site, a man in his late 50s named Juraboy, was stabbed to death by two unknown assailants.
26 May 2005: Uzbek and international rights groups warn that a general crackdown on dissent is under way in Uzbekistan in the wake of the violence in Andijon.
25 May 2005: President Karimov again rejects calls for an international investigation, saying, "Our view, my view, and our government's view is that we think that the idea of setting up an international commission on investigating the Andijon events is groundless, and we will never agree to this."
24 May 2005: NATO's North Atlantic Council calls itself "deeply disturbed by the recent violence in Uzbekistan" and warns that the crackdown could affect Uzbekistan's relations with the 26-member bloc.
23 May 2005: Foreign ministers of the European Union condemn the Uzbek government's "excessive, disproportionate and indiscriminate use of force" in Andijon. Uzbek rights organization Ezgulik puts the death toll at more than 1,000. The lower chamber of Uzbekistan's parliament resolves to form a commission to investigate the events in Andijon.
21 May 2005: U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice calls on the Uzbek authorities on to agree to an international inquiry.
19 May 2005: Uzbek troops regain control of Karasu. United Nations Human Rights Commissioner Louise Arbour announces that President Karimov has rejected calls for an independent international inquiry into the violence in Andijon.
18 May 2005: Foreign diplomats given restricted 90-minute tour of Andijon. China praises Uzbekistan's handling of the Andijon crisis, while EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner calls for an independent inquiry.
17 May 2005: Uzbek Prosecutor-General Rashid Qodirov announces that 169 people were killed in the violence in Andijon, most of them rebels or hostages. Qodirov denies government forces fired on demonstrators. Opposition party says more than 700 were killed. President Karimov calls estimates of 500 dead "imaginary" and says he would never have given the order to shoot on his own people. Carlos Zaccagnini, chief of mission for the UN High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR) in Kyrgyzstan, says that the Kyrgyz Migration Department has registered 540 Uzbek refugees in Kyrgyzstan as asylum seekers.
16 May 2005: No central authority evident in the city of Karasu on the Uzbek-Kyrgyz border after local residents rioted on 14 May. Uzbek troops surround the town.
14-16 May 2005: News agencies report several hundred dead in Uzbekistan after government forces fire on demonstrators. Uzbek President Islam Karimov blames religious extremists, while the Interior Ministry puts the death toll at 70. Uzbek authorities cut off foreign media in the country and attempt to expel foreign journalists from Andijon. (See also "Where Does Crisis Go From Here?")
14 May 2005: Several hundred Uzbeks flee across the border to Kyrgyzstan.
13 May 2005: A large demonstration takes place in central Andijon. The government uses force to disperse the demonstrators.
13 May 2005: A band of men seizes the local government administration building and tries unsuccessfully to take over the National Security Service headquarters in Andijon.
12 May 2005: Armed men in Andijon attack a police station, army barracks, and jail, freeing several hundred prisoners.
11 May 2005: Court postpones a verdict in the case.
Early May 2005: Protests take place in Andijon as the trial of 23 businessmen for alleged involvement in a banned Islamist group nears a verdict. (See also, "Extremism Trial Postponed, Charges Reduced Amid Protests".)
Aftermath Of Andijon
A dedicated webpage bringing together all of RFE/RL's coverage of the events in Andijon, Uzbekistan, in May 2005 and their continuing repercussions.