In Uzbekistan, a local journalist with socialist views, Aziz Hakimov, was sentenced to 4 years and 2 months in prison under the charge of “inciting hatred” for his statements against the process of rehabilitating figures from the Basmachi movement of 1918-1944, who fought against Soviet power with weapons, attempting to restore power to mullahs, wealthy individuals, and feudal lords.

The basis for the charges was his statement: “From a legal perspective, Uzbekistan is currently preparing to immortalize the memory of cruel murderers and terrorists. The Basmachi detachments were a very primitive analogue of ISIS* and other newly formed terrorist organizations.”

In addition, Aziz Hakimov condemned the initiative of the parliamentary party “Milliy Tiklanish” to ban Soviet symbolism and communist ideology in Uzbekistan, even though the Communist Party had been abolished by the authorities in 1994. He was also charged with publishing Soviet posters from the period of the Great Patriotic War, but he was acquitted on this charge.

The trial itself was held behind closed doors, and the case files are classified. It is clear that this verdict is a result of the process of rehabilitation and glorification in the Central Asian republics and the South Caucasus of figures from bourgeois-nationalist movements, collaborationist formations that fought in the ranks of the Nazi Wehrmacht and Muslim SS units, who are now presented as participants in the “struggle for national liberation.”

This same pattern can be seen in the sentencing of four young people with communist views in Azerbaijan to prison terms. At the beginning of August, in a Baku court, Ibrahim Asadli and Abdulla Ibrahimli were sentenced to two years in prison, while Elchin Bayramly and Mehman Zeynalov were sentenced to one and a half years for simply displaying the flags of the USSR and the Azerbaijan SSR. “Evidence” of their guilt also included Marxist literature and discs with video recordings of Soviet leaders that were seized during searches. Previously, Saleh Samedov, the head of the Council of Elders of the Imishli region, was sentenced for using a Soviet flag during the celebration of May 9th. These repressions are not surprising in light of President Ilham Aliyev’s statement that Azerbaijan was a colony of the Soviet Union.

It is clear that these trials and prison sentences for supporters of socialism are intended to intimidate those who oppose anti-social reforms, privatization, and the commercialization of education and healthcare, as well as those who openly condemn the process of rehabilitating Basmachi and Nazi collaborators in countries that are members of the Organization of Turkic States. This is also a logical consequence of the mass renaming campaigns aimed at decommunization, and the constant initiatives of individual deputies and entire parties in the parliaments of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan to ban communist ideology.

We demand the immediate release of Aziz Hakimov, Azerbaijani communists, and all bloggers and journalists in the republics that are members of the Organization of Turkic States who have been sentenced to prison terms for their views.

Parties of the Solidnet network that have signed the statement of solidarity: (https://www.solidnet.org/article/SM-of-Kazakhstan-Joint-statement-regarding-the-repression-of-those-who-spoke-out-against-the-rehabilitation-of-the-Basmachi-in-Uzbekistan-and-the-use-of-Soviet-symbols-in-Azerbaijan/)

  1. Algerian Party for Democracy and Socialism
  2. Austrian Labour Party
  3. Communist Party of Bangladesh
  4. Communist Party of Denmark
  5. Communist Party of Greece
  6. Irish Workers’ Party
  7. Communist Party of Ireland
  8. Social Movement Kazakhstan
  9. Communist Party of Mexico
  10. Palestinian Communist Party
  11. Communist Party of Pakistan
  12. Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP 1930)
  13. Communist Party of Poland
  14. Communist Party of the Russian Federation
  15. Communists of Serbia
  16. Communist Party of Workers of Spain
  17. Communists of Catalonia
  18. Communist Party of Sweden

Other parties

  1. Communist Front (Italy)

The statement is open for further signatures

Source -> https://www.solidnet.org/article/SM-of-Kazakhstan-Joint-statement-regarding-the-repression-of-those-who-spoke-out-against-the-rehabilitation-of-the-Basmachi-in-Uzbekistan-and-the-use-of-Soviet-symbols-in-Azerbaijan/

and

https://t.me/kom_mir/14921