Espionage is Golden
A citizen of Tajikistan Saidkul Ashurov, Who was chief technologist at the gold-mining venture in Uzbekistan, was sentenced to 12 years in prison on charges of espionage. It is reported by the Tajik service of Radio “Liberty”.
As the newspaper writes, a resident of Penjikent Sughd Tajikistan recently arrived in Uzbekistan from South Africa. The British company Oxus Gold, which owns 50 percent stake in the joint British-Uzbek venture “Amantaytau Goldfields”, invited him to the post of chief technology officer. Law enforcement agencies of Uzbekistan was detained Ashurova March 5 on charges of collecting information, which is a state secret.
“Ashurov was detained by Uzbek authorities on trumped-up charges of espionage. There are no legal grounds to arrest him,” – said in an interview with radio “Freedom” company lawyer Robert Amsterdam. Uzbek rights activist Sukhrob Ismoilov, Who is also an advisor to the company Oxus Gold, said that the Uzbek authorities have assessed the stored information as a state secret, despite the fact that she was working Ashurova and the public. “Information on the disc represents the mystery and can be obtained freely available on the Internet. It was also found in the court. Some of the information was posted on the website of the joint venture. There was only one file with information about the transportation of gold in 2009, which has lost its relevance “, – he said.
Meanwhile, the Uzbek authorities have not given permission to meet with the prisoner to his wife and three children. “His no show is not allowed to talk, not allowed to meet with relatives. We have asked the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, to David Cameron, the British Prime Minister, but to no avail,” – says his brother Ashurov.
The Tajik authorities have appealed to Uzbekistan for permission to attend Tajik diplomats at the hearing on Ashurov, but their requests went unanswered. Relatives and lawyers believe was a victim of Ashurov dispute arose between the company Oxus Gold and the Uzbek authorities, and tense relations between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Recall that in recent years in both countries have recorded numerous cases of accusations of espionage in favor of a neighboring state.