Other

2022 Karakalpak protests

Proposed removal of Karakalpakstan's sovereignty and secession rights triggered deadly protests, forcing a presidential reversal.

What happened

In June 2022, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev's constitutional commission proposed removing Karakalpakstan's "sovereign" status and its constitutional right to secede by referendum, as part of a broader package of around 170 amendments.[1]

Protests began in Nukus on 1 July 2022; on 2 July 2022, Mirziyoyev withdrew the proposed changes, but the government imposed an internet blockade and a state of emergency lasting until 21 July 2022. According to Uzbek government figures, 21 people died, 243 were reported injured, and 516 were detained on 1-2 July.[2]

Uzbekistan's revised constitution retained Karakalpakstan's right to secede by referendum.[3] Two years later, Human Rights Watch reported minimal accountability for the crackdown itself (three police officers prosecuted) alongside extensive prosecution of activists, including a 16-year sentence for Dauletmurat Tazhimuratov and the February 2024 designation of the Alga Karakalpakstan movement as "extremist."[4]

Sources for this page

Each number marks a specific claim. Notes give the source, its locator and how it relates to the claim.

  1. 1.

    Claim: In June 2022, as part of a broader package of around 170 proposed constitutional amendments, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev's constitutional commission proposed removing the word "sovereign" from Karakalpakstan's constitutional description and removing its constitutional right to secede by referendum.

    • 2022 Karakalpak protests (Wikipedia) link, Proposed amendments section. Source record
  2. 2.

    Claim: Protests began in Nukus, Karakalpakstan's capital, on 1 July 2022, following the proposed removal of Karakalpakstan's sovereignty and secession-referendum provisions and the arrest of blogger and lawyer Dauletmurat Tazhimuratov; on 2 July 2022, President Mirziyoyev withdrew the proposed changes to Karakalpakstan's status, but the government imposed an internet blockade and declared a state of emergency the same day, lasting until 21 July 2022. According to Uzbek government figures, 21 people died (18 initially reported on 4 July, plus 3 further hospital deaths announced 18 July), 243 people were reported injured (with Karakalpakstan's health minister separately claiming "thousands" were hospitalized), and 516 people were detained on 1-2 July; these figures are officially reported and not independently verified by this bundle.

    • 2022 Karakalpak protests (Wikipedia) link, Timeline and casualty-figures sections. Source record
  3. 3.

    Claim: Following the withdrawal of the proposed amendments, Uzbekistan's revised constitution retained Karakalpakstan's constitutional right to secede from Uzbekistan by referendum.

  4. 4.

    Claim: Two years after the 2022 crackdown, Human Rights Watch reported that only three police officers had faced prosecution for related "illegal actions" (two sentenced to seven years for torture, one to three years for perjury and abandonment of duty), with investigations the Prosecutor General's Office announced in December 2022 into two deaths and weapons use producing no further public information; meanwhile, over 500 people were arrested after the protests, with 61 prosecuted in two major trials, including activist and lawyer Dauletmurat Tazhimuratov, sentenced to 16 years, and five diaspora activists sentenced in absentia in September 2023 to terms of 3 to over 10 years; in February 2024, Uzbekistan's Supreme Court designated the Alga Karakalpakstan movement as "extremist."

    • Uzbekistan: 2 Years on, No Justice in Autonomous Republic (Human Rights Watch) link, Accountability and prosecutions sections. Advocacy organisation perspective Source record

Source note

Show in the notes list