As Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev pays an official state visit to France on 11-13 March 2025, the Association for Human Rights in Central Asia (AHRCA), International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR) and the Norwegian Helsinki Committee (NHC) call on President Emmanuel Macron to raise the alarming deterioration of freedom of expression and the persecution of independent social media commentators in Uzbekistan during his meetings with President Mirziyoyev.
Despite official commitments to reform, Uzbekistani authorities continue to suppress free speech, using criminal prosecution and even forced psychiatric detention to silence critical voices. Independent journalists, bloggers, and social media commentators who highlight corruption, nepotism, or other politically sensitive issues risk harassment, detention, and imprisonment. Uzbekistan’s ranking in the 2024 Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index dropped significantly, reflecting the worsening climate for free expression.
The following two cases – involving the abuse of psychiatric detention to silence dissent – illustrate the repression faced by independent voices in Uzbekistan:
- Shahida Salomova, a 62-year-old human rights defender and administrator of a popular blog providing legal guidance to victims of unlawful house demolitions, has been arbitrarily detained in psychiatric hospitals since 2023. She was arrested on defamation charges after a social media post in which she condemned polygamy, referring to an alleged case involving a close relative of the president. She is currently held in the Republican Psychiatric Hospital of Intensive Observation in Tashkent, where she is reportedly administered psychotropic medication against her will and kept in full isolation from the outside world. Her health conditions, including diabetes, asthma, high blood pressure, and others, have reportedly deteriorated in detention.
- Validjon Kalonov, a blogger who criticized Uzbekistan’s relations with China and called for democratic change, was detained on charges of insulting the president in 2021 and forcibly placed in a psychiatric hospital in Jizzak region. Recently, he attempted suicide while in detention, highlighting the severe psychological toll of Uzbekistan’s repression. While his life was saved, his current health condition remains unknown.
For these reasons, we are deeply concerned about the current health and well-being of Salomova and Kalonov.
The misuse of psychiatric detention for political persecution is a deeply troubling practice reminiscent of Soviet-era abuses. It has no place in a country that claims to be pursuing democratic reforms.
As France strengthens its economic and political ties with Uzbekistan, we urge President Macron to place human rights at the centre of these discussions. Specifically, we call on him to:
- Urge President Mirziyoyev to end the persecution of independent human rights defenders, bloggers, and social media commentators, including the use of punitive psychiatric detention; and to ensure the immediate release of Shahida Salomova, Validjon Kalonov, and others detained for peacefully exercising their freedom of expression;
- Press Uzbekistan to uphold its international human rights obligations, including freedom of expression, fair trial rights, the right to liberty and security, and freedom from torture and ill-treatment.
France has long been a champion of press freedom and human rights. This visit presents a critical opportunity to reaffirm these principles and advocate for those whose voices have been silenced. We urge President Macron to stand in solidarity with Uzbekistan’s independent voices and to ensure that human rights remain central to French-Uzbek relations.