Umida Ahmedova is a documentary photographer and Uzbekistan’s first camerawoman. In the end of 2009, she was charged with insult and defamation of the Uzbek nation on the basis of some of her works. Ahmedova went through a trial, where she was found guilty on all charges. The incident received wide publicity domestically in Uzbekistan, as well as internationally. This is a likely reason why the artist was granted an amnesty and released.

The Uzbek Agency on Publications and Information filed a lawsuit against Ahmedova as part of the criminal cases against all the authors who cooperated with the “Gender Program of the Swiss Embassy” in the end of 2009. The artist’s photo album called “Women and Men: From Sunrise to Dawn” was published in 2007 with the support of the “Gender Program of the Swiss Embassy”, containing 110 photos that reflect different aspects of people’s lives in Uzbekistan. She also produced a documentary movie called “Burden of Virginity”, which showed the life of Uzbek girls in rural areas of the country.

Ahmedova was charged with crimes under two articles of the Criminal Code: article 139 on “defamation due to mercenary or other vile motives” and article 140 on ”insult in printed or otherwise multiplied text or in the mass media”. The former stipulates imprisonment for up to three years, the latter a  fine of up to four hundred minimum wages or correctional works for one to two years. The court trial took place on February 9, 2010. The photographer was found guilty under both of the articles. However, as the court took into consideration the fact that Ahmedova is a mother of three children, her marital status and positive characteristics, as well as and the absence of previous convictions, she was immediately granted amnesty.

In accordance with a statement from the Center for Monitoring in the Sphere of Mass Communications under the Information and Communication Agency of Uzbekistan on May 19, 2009, it was established that the author of the photo collection “Women And Men: From Sunrise to Dawn” together with the authors of documentaries like “Burden of Virgnitiy” and “Women and Men in Customs and Rituals” directed by Ahmedova and her husband, Oleg Karpov, have insulted the Uzbek people with their non-scientific and inappropriate commentaries that contain a hidden subtext directed at discrediting the customs and traditions of the Uzbek people, inappropriate information that may negatively affect the moral values of young people. In light of this, the works of Ahmedova are therefore viewed as expressing a defaming, disdainful and disrespectful attitude to Uzbek traditions.

However, the album mainly contains photos depicting remote regions, rural and mountainous areas of the country. Only some photos show city life. The photos dedicated to gender issues  mainly depict women, children, men and elderly people that live in rural areas, with some images of wedding ceremonies, competitions, houses, markets, mountains and fields, common public places and streets.

The Information and Communication Agency apparently did not interpret these images as representing different aspects of life, but as an attempt by the author to make a series of thematic photos that would be in line with a certain topic. Thus, representatives of the Agency assume that in her works, the artist provided a subjective, distorted view of reality, emphasizing the poor conditions in which people depicted in the photos live.

After Ahmedova’s trial on February 11, picketing took place in front of the diplomatic missions of Uzbekistan in Moscow and Paris. In Moscow, the majority of the demonstrators were artists, photographers, film directors and journalists that wanted to express their discontent with Ahmedova’s sentence. In Paris, most of the demonstrators were human rights activists.

The international NGO Reporters without Borders called Ahmedova’s sentence “hypocritical”. The organization’s experts note that her verdict could become a very dangerous precedent, if artists can be accused of defamation and insult of a nation. Meanwhile, the photographer’s lawyer, Sergey Mayorov, still requests the court to reach a verdict of not guilty for the lack of constituent elements of offence. Together with his client, Mayorov intends to appeal to the Tashkent City Court. The outcome of Ahmedova’s case may be considered a fortunate and unfortunate at the same time. On the one hand, she was not imprisoned. On the other, however, one of the most talented artists in Uzbekistan was sentenced for a very serious crime. In broader terms, however, Ahmedova’s case may indicate that the state is seeking to control and manipulate a new sphere of human life – that of art.