According to information received by the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan (HRSU), SHOVRIQ RO'ZINURODOV was arrested in Yakkabogh District, Qashqadaryo Province in Southern Uzbekistan on April 5. In violation of the law, police conducted a search simultaneously in every room and space of the apartment and "discovered" several cartridges from a gun. It is strongly believed that these had been planted by the police, as has been the case in other investigations involving dissidents and others disliked by the authorities. Ro'zimurodov was charged with possession of an unregistered weapon.

Ro'zimurodov is head of the Qashqadaryo branch of the HRSU. In 1990-91, he was a member of the Uzbekistani parliament. In early 1990, he won election to the Republican Supreme Council, despite strong objections from the authorities. At the first session of that parliament in February 1990, Ro'zimurodov was the only deputy who publicly opposed the election of Islam Karimov as the first President of Uzbekistan. In May 1991, he was arrested and later sentenced to four years in prison. In October of 1991, Ro'zimurodov was released on probation, but next month he was illegally dismissed from the parliament.

Since October 1996, Ro'zimurodov has been questioned and threatened several times by local enforcement bodies. Authorities demanded that he stop promoting human rights activities and resign from the HRSU. In spring of 1997, Otabek Ro'zimurodov, Ro'zimurodov's nephew and a student at Tashkent Agricultural University, was detained, brought to the Internal Ministry's headquarters and beaten for making statements to about harassment in Qashqadaryo.

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