Europe and Central Asia Summary of Amnesty International’s Concerns in the Region, January-June 2007 activist and joined the NGO Anima-kor, which works to protect the rights of medical doctors and their patients. She later also became a member of the unregistered NGO Initiative Group of Independent Human Rights Defenders of Uzbekistan (IGIHRDU). She is the mother of four children, the youngest of whom was born in 2006, and she herself is 40 years old. On 12 June Gulbahor Turaeva’s prison term was commuted on appeal by Andizhan Regional court to a six-year suspended sentence and she was released from detention. Like Umida Niazova, Gulbahor Turaeva pleaded guilty to all charges at the appeal hearing and denounced her work as a human rights defender as well as the activities of other human rights activists. Isroil Kholdorov On 20 February 2007, Andizhan Regional Court sentenced 57-year-old Isroil Kholdorov, the chairperson of the Andizhan Regional Department of the Erk party, to six years’ imprisonment. He had been charged with attempting to overthrow the constitutional order under Article 159 of the Criminal Code, distributing materials constituting a security threat under Article 244, organizing and leading a banned organization under Article 216 and illegally crossing the border under Article 233. According to his lawyer, all the charges, apart from illegally crossing the border, had been fabricated by the authorities in order to punish him for his peaceful political opposition activities. Isroil Kholdorov left Uzbekistan for Kyrgyzstan following the May 2005 Andizhan events. He had spoken to international media about mass graves in and around Andizhan, including in Bogishamol district, which the authorities had reportedly been secretly organizing. The authorities denied that there were any mass graves following the Andizhan killings. While in Kyrgyzstan, Isroil Kholdorov organized an unsanctioned demonstration in the border town of Kara-Suu on the anniversary of the Andizhan events. In July Amnesty International 153 2006, human rights organizations in Kyrgyzstan as well as United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) expressed concern that Isroil Kholdorov had "disappeared" and that he might have been abducted by members of the Uzbekistani security services and forcibly returned to Uzbekistan. Other reports, however, claimed that Isroil Kholdorov had decided to return "voluntarily" to Uzbekistan and that he had informed the Uzbekistani authorities in writing of his decision. According to these reports, he was detained by law enforcement officers in September 2006 as he crossed the border. Dzhamshed Karimov Independent journalist Dzhamshid Karimov "disappeared" in Dzhizzakh after visiting his mother in hospital. His family believed that his "disappearance" was linked to his journalistic activities. In October, sources reported that he had been forcibly confined to a psychiatric hospital. A court in Samarkand had reportedly ordered compulsory psychiatric treatment for six months. Local authorities continued to deny any knowledge of his whereabouts, stating merely that he had undergone psychiatric treatment in the past. He was believed to be in a maximum security ward at Samarkand city psychiatric hospital. His family were intimidated by local authorities and their phone was cut off after they alerted international organizations. Dzhamshid Karimov is the nephew of President Islam Karimov. He had worked for the Institute of War and Peace Reporting and as stringer for other independent websites. He had been harassed in the past and had expressed fears for his safety in letters to a Swedish journalist in August and was preparing to leave the country. In March Dzhamshed Karimov’s compulsory treatment was reportedly extended for another six months. Access to Dzhamshed Karimov has been very limited. AI Index: EUR 01/010/2007