The blogger and English language teacher Nafosat Ollashukurova, know under penname Shabnam on Facebook, was placed to the Khorezm province Neuropsychiatric Clinic by court decision, the General Prosecutor's Office of Uzbekistan.
On September 23, the Khorezm province police department opened an administrative case against the journalist and the poet Mahmud Rajabov and his relatives, who went on foot to Tashkent simply to meet the Minister of Internal Affairs in Tashkent, as well as against Nafosat Ollashukurova, who was posting the stories about this march on her blog.
On the same day, the Urgench City Administrative Court ordered to arrest Nafosat Ollashukurova for 10 days under Articles 183 (Minor assault), 194 (Failure to obey a police order), 195 (Obstructing a police officer) and 202 (Faciltating unauthorized meetings, rallies, street processions and demonstrations) of the Code of Administrative Liability. Mahmud Radjabov was also sentenced to the same term (after 10 days he was released).
Both Murod Rajabov and Shabnam seem to have been arrested arbitrarily under made-up allegations and the court simply rubber-stamping the sentence instructed by the local executive branch.
According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, on September 26, when serving her sentence, Nafosat Ollashukurova manifetsed some “psychological deviation” and an ambulance was called for her. On the recommendation of a psychiatrist, she was taken to the Khorezm Province Neuropsychiatric Dispensary for medical examination.
Afterwards, the neuropsychiatric dispensary, having found her to be having the “signs of a psychopathic syndrome, mental disorder and paranoid syndrome”, requested the Urgench Interdistrict Civil Court to issue permission to place Nafosat Ollashukurova.
She reportedly was in a "powerless state, that is, she was incapable to satisfy her basic needs on her own, which constitutes a threat to herself or others."
On September 30, the Urgench inter-district court for civil cases sent Nafosat Ollashukurova to the Khorezm Provincial Neuropsychiatric Dispensary by final decision. Now she is receiving treatment, said the Prosecutor General.
Social activist Nafosat Ollashukurova expressed dissatisfaction with the actions of local authorities and proposed to unite and create a body to protect the public from illegal actions of officials, in particular, during illegal demolitions of private property in Kashkadarya, Khorezm and Ferghana provinces.
In recent publications, Nafosat Ollashukurova broadcast live coverage of the march by Mahmud Rajabov and his relatives. They departed for Tashkent on September 22 to meet with the Interior Minister Pulat Bobodjanov and seek a cessation of the criminal case against him, as well as complain about pressure from police officers.
The records show that the group led by Mahmud Rajabov reached Urgench. During a campaign to meet with them, the chief of the Khorezm province Police Department, the mayor of Urgench and other officials came out. The footage was interrupted when some men kidnapped Murod Rajabov.
Nafosat Ollashukurova's father, Boltaboy Ollashukurov told the media that his daughter never suffered from any mental illnesses.
