AKIPRESS.COM - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan said in a statement it is looking into the report about aggressive verbal attack against the Human Rights Watch researcher, Steve Swerdlow, on June 13, 2019 in Tashkent.

As the rights watchdog said, Mr Swerdlow was the target of an aggressive verbal attack while on a visit to Uzbekistan to investigate human rights abuses. On the morning of June 13, Sardor Komilov, a video blogger, and four other people went to the hotel where Swerdlow was staying in Tashkent. Komilov told the reception staff he was a guest of Swerdlow’s, called his room, and pretended to be a victim of abuses seeking Human Rights Watch’s help. When Swerdlow came downstairs, Komilov and the others surrounded him on all sides, often blocking his movement, following and filming him for 20 minutes. Komilov verbally attacked Swerdlow with a series of unfounded accusations, many mirroring smears that have appeared online in recent weeks. Before driving off, they told Swerdlow to “get the hell out of Uzbekistan," the Human Rights Watch said.

“Human Rights Watch stands fully by our expert Steve Swerdlow and his outstanding investigations into Uzbek officials who violate human rights, and we condemn this brazen attack,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. “This is clearly an attempt to intimidate Steve and appears to be part of an ongoing online campaign to try to discredit the work of human rights organizations and rights defenders in Uzbekistan. This effort to discredit human rights defenders will fail.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan vowed to "take appropriate measures."