VOA标准英语2010年-VOA Uzbek Journalist on Trial in Tashk

Abdumalik Bobaev, who reports on Uzbekistan for the Voice of America, is on trial for reporting, among other things, that journalists go to trial in Uzbekistan for doing their jobs.

Abdumalik Bobaev, who has reported on Uzbekistan for VOA for the past five years, is on trial in Tashkent, charged with slander¹, insult and endangering public security. If convicted, he could face up to eight years in jail.

The 6,700-word indictment² recently was translated from Uzbek into Russian and posted on the Fergana.ru website. It showed a state censorship unit had been very attentive³ to listeners of the VOA Uzbek service.

Charges "complete falsifications"

Bobaev's indictment contains a long list of Bobaev's reports - child labor⁴ in cotton fields, the drying up of the Aral Sea, and the trial and conviction of two reporters last June. By reporting on these trials and saying Uzbekistan's "... government controls the media, and pressures journalists," the indictment charges that Bobaev "was openly insulting the judiciary and law enforcement agencies of Uzbekistan."

Reached by cellphone in Tashkent, Bobaev denied the charges, saying they were "complete falsifications.'' But knowing the state of press freedom in Uzbekistan, he said he is not optimistic about the outcome.

When the charges were filed last month, VOA Director Danforth W. Austin said in a statement, "Mr. Bobaev, like all VOA journalists, is required to present accurate and balanced reports, and he should not be penalized⁵ for doing his job."

Before the trial started in the Tashkent courtroom on Monday, activists⁶ briefly⁷ unfolded banners reading: "A Bobaev, people know their heroes!" and "Down with judicial⁸ arbitrariness".

History of censorship

During the past two years, Uzbekistan has tried and jailed eight reporters. Another reporter, Vladimir Berezovsky, a Russian, also is on trial on slander charges.

The Uzbekistan government routinely denies visas to foreign journalists. As a result, coverage⁹ of the most populous¹⁰ country in Central Asia is left to reports from travelers and a dwindling¹¹ band of Uzbeks brave enough to report for foreign news organizations.

A statement from Paris-based Reporters without Borders reads, "Bobaev is one of the country's last outspoken¹² journalists. The authorities have long had him in their sights and have been harassing¹³ him since the start of the year, but he has never stopped providing independent coverage of Uzbek society." In the rights group's ranking of press freedom in 175 countries, Uzbekistan ranks at 160, near the bottom.

Silencing critics

In a country where Internet access is growing, the government increasingly blocks and filters foreign news websites. The indictment against Bobaev cites offending articles on the VOA Uzbek website as frequently as it cites VOA radio broadcasts.

The head of the Initiative Group of Independent Rights Defenders¹⁴ of Uzbekistan, Surat Ikramov, said press freedom does not exist in Uzbekistan. Talking by telephone from Tashkent, he said all media in Uzbekistan is under control of the government, and that no newspaper, magazine or radio station can criticize the government.

The media freedom representative for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Dunja Mijatovic, has written to Uzbek Foreign Minister Vladimir Norov, saying, "The cases of Bobaev and Berezovsky are yet another indication that the press freedom-situation in Uzbekistan continues to deteriorate¹⁵, and I urge the authorities to reverse this trend."

Deadly, disturbing harassment¹⁶

In a disturbing form of harassment, a state-run television channel early this year branded as traitors¹⁸ the Uzbekistan correspondents for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The channel broadcast their photos, home addresses, and schools attended by their children.

Three years ago, Alisher Saipov, a VOA Uzbek service reporter, was shot dead outside his office in Osh, Kyrgyzstan, one month after Uzbekistan official media branded him a traitor¹⁷.

Before Bobaev's trial started, a U.S. Embassy statement in Tashkent said, "We are deeply concerned about the criminal case against Mr. Bobaev, as well as its implications for media freedom in Uzbekistan. We are following the case very closely and expect Uzbekistan to uphold its constitutional guarantee of freedom of expression."

On Monday, an American embassy official was allowed to attend Bobaev's trial.
 

1 slander   

n./v.诽谤，污蔑

参考例句：

• The article is a slander on ordinary working people.那篇文章是对普通劳动大众的诋毁。
• He threatened to go public with the slander.他威胁要把丑闻宣扬出去。

2 indictment   

n.起诉；诉状

参考例句：

• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。
• They issued an indictment against them.他们起诉了他们。

3 attentive   

adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的

参考例句：

• She was very attentive to her guests.她对客人招待得十分周到。
• The speaker likes to have an attentive audience.演讲者喜欢注意力集中的听众。

4 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

5 penalized   

对…予以惩罚( penalize的过去式和过去分词 )； 使处于不利地位

参考例句：

• You will be penalized for poor spelling. 你拼写不好将会受到处罚。
• Team members will be penalized for lateness. 队员迟到要受处罚。

6 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

8 judicial   

adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的

参考例句：

• He is a man with a judicial mind.他是个公正的人。
• Tom takes judicial proceedings against his father.汤姆对他的父亲正式提出诉讼。

9 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

10 populous   

adj.人口稠密的，人口众多的

参考例句：

• London is the most populous area of Britain.伦敦是英国人口最稠密的地区。
• China is the most populous developing country in the world.中国是世界上人口最多的发展中国家。

11 dwindling   

adj.逐渐减少的v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The number of wild animals on the earth is dwindling. 地球上野生动物的数量正日渐减少。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He is struggling to come to terms with his dwindling authority. 他正努力适应自己权力被削弱这一局面。 来自辞典例句

12 outspoken   

adj.直言无讳的，坦率的，坦白无隐的

参考例句：

• He was outspoken in his criticism.他在批评中直言不讳。
• She is an outspoken critic of the school system in this city.她是这座城市里学校制度的坦率的批评者。

13 harassing   

v.侵扰，骚扰( harass的现在分词 )；不断攻击（敌人）

参考例句：

• The court ordered him to stop harassing his ex-wife. 法庭命令他不得再骚扰前妻。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It was too close to be merely harassing fire. 打得这么近，不能完全是扰乱射击。 来自辞典例句

14 defenders   

n.防御者( defender的名词复数 )；守卫者；保护者；辩护者

参考例句：

• The defenders were outnumbered and had to give in. 抵抗者寡不敌众，只能投降。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• After hard fighting,the defenders were still masters of the city. 守军经过奋战仍然控制着城市。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 deteriorate   

v.变坏；恶化；退化

参考例句：

• Do you think relations between China and Japan will continue to deteriorate?你认为中日关系会继续恶化吗？
• He held that this would only cause the situation to deteriorate further.他认为，这只会使局势更加恶化。

16 harassment   

n.骚扰，扰乱，烦恼，烦乱

参考例句：

• She often got telephone harassment at night these days.这些天她经常在夜晚受到电话骚扰。
• The company prohibits any form of harassment.公司禁止任何形式的骚扰行为。

17 traitor   

n.叛徒，卖国贼

参考例句：

• The traitor was finally found out and put in prison.那个卖国贼终于被人发现并被监禁了起来。
• He was sold out by a traitor and arrested.他被叛徒出卖而被捕了。

18 traitors   

卖国贼( traitor的名词复数 )； 叛徒； 背叛者； 背信弃义的人

参考例句：

• Traitors are held in infamy. 叛徒为人所不齿。
• Traitors have always been treated with contempt. 叛徒永被人们唾弃。