The journalist of Ozodlik, the Uzbek service of Radio Liberty, Umid Bobomatov, was deported from Uzbekistan at Tashkent airport on 4 June, he said on his Facebook page.
“Yesterday, on June 4, upon arrival at the Tashkent airport, I was immediately expelled from the country without explanation, protocols, signatures and other formalities,” he said.
Umid Bobomatov stresses that the reason for his expulsion remained unclear, however he suggests it could be caused by his professional activities.
“I perceive the whole operation of my deportation, as a challenge, a warning, a hidden threat to me and my colleagues, and it is happening against the background of loud talk about "Uzbekistan’s openning, democratization, freedom of speech and the fight against corruption", - he wrote.
The Russian citizen Umid Bobomatov is the journalist of Ozodlik in Moscow. Earlier, according to the radio station, he regularly visited Uzbekistan.
In May, the head of the Uzbek Agency for Information and Mass Communications (AIMC) Komil Allamjonov called the working methods of the Uzbek service of Radio Liberty, Ozodlik, contrary to generally accepted standards of journalistic ethics. (the Ozodlik website is banned in Uzbekistan).
In particular, he also called the Ozodlik’s editorial policy “one-sided and biased”, “focusing largely on publishing biased and often unreliable stories, which ultimately misleads the public and the global audience.”
