Journalist Timur Karpov denied a passport for travelling abroad
On 13 June 2019, the journalist Timur Karpov was officially notified that the issuing of his passport was denied due to the request being considered ‘unreasonable’. The journalist has been trying to obtain the passport that would allow him to travel outside of Uzbekistan since 8 April 2019.
Timur Karpov is a photographer and multimedia journalist documenting human rights violations in Uzbekistan. His research focuses among other things on forced labour in cotton fields. During his work on documenting the use of forced labour in the cotton fields in Uzbekistan, he has been detained, threatened and interrogated many times. Timur Karpov closely collaborates with a number of Uzbek human rights defenders and international human rights organisations.
On 13 June 2019, the journalist Timur Karpov was officially notified that the issuing of his passport was denied due to the request being considered ‘unreasonable’. The journalist has been trying to obtain the passport that would allow him to travel outside of Uzbekistan since 8 April 2019.
Timur Karpov is a photographer and multimedia journalist documenting human rights violations in Uzbekistan. His research focuses among other things on forced labour in cotton fields. During his work on documenting the use of forced labour in the cotton fields in Uzbekistan, he has been detained, threatened and interrogated many times. Timur Karpov closely collaborates with a number of Uzbek human rights defenders and international human rights organisations.
On 13 June 2019, the head of the Migration and Citizenship Office of the Department of Internal Affairs Coordination in Yashnbadsky District, Tashkent, Uzbekistan issued an official note stating that Timur Karpov was denied a passport for travelling abroad due to the ‘unreasonableness’ of issuing it. The official made a reference to the Provision on the Procedure for the Citizens of the Republic of Uzbekistan Travelling Abroad, according to which the right to travel abroad can be restricted in case an applicant deliberately provides false information about themselves. In practice that means that Timur Karpov’s right to travel outside of Uzbekistan is curtailed. The journalist intends to submit a legal complaint against the refusal to issue him with a passport.
On 8 April 2019, Timur Karpov submitted all the required documents in order to obtain a passport for travelling abroad which takes 21 business days in accordance with the law. On 30 April 2019, as he was not notified on the status of the passport upon the end of this period, he came to the Passport Office where he was told that his application was still under consideration. On 10 May 2019, he received the same answer. Only on 11 June he was told that the issuing of the passport was declined.
According to Uzbek law, the citizens intending to go outside of the country must obtain a second passport for travelling abroad in addition to the one for internal use. The system of biometric passports for travelling abroad was introduced in Uzbekistan on 1 January 2019 substituting the outdated procedure of issuing permits for travelling outside of the country. The old procedure was often used by the authorities to restrict the freedom of movement of journalists and human rights defenders in order to prevent them from testifying about human rights violations in the country. The denial of the second passport’s issue to Timur Karpov is the first registered case where the government is reportedly using the new system to prevent a journalist from travelling abroad and potentially speaking out about violations in the country before an international audience.
Front Line Defenders is seriously concerned by the decision of the law enforcement authorities of the Republic of Uzbekistan to deny the issue of the passport for travelling abroad to journalist Timur Karpov. This decision curtails the right of the reporter to leave the country and thus imposes a travel ban on him. Front Line Defenders believes that the restriction of Timur Karpov’s right of movement came as a direct result of his peaceful and legitimate human rights work in protection of freedom of speech and labour rights.
