Uzbekistan’s highest court ordered a new trial for Hayot Norboev, overturning a lower court’s 7-year prison sentence against the blogger on blackmail and extortion charges. Rights defender Abdurahmon Tashanov told RFE/RL on December 19 that the Supreme Court had thrown out the conviction against Norboev, who is also known as Samarkandiy. A lower court in Samarkand in July had found the 27-year-old guilty of trying to extort from local authorities. Norboev, who maintained his innocence, is one of a growing number of bloggers and reporters whom authorities have prosecuted in recent months on charges that rights activists have called politically motivated. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Uzbek Service, click here.
