Twenty Years Ago Today, Daily Brief May 13, 2025.

Today marks two decades since the Andijan Massacre in Uzbekistan. Along with the survivors, we remember the victims – as well as the international community’s fecklessness in the ensuing years.

What happened that day has been well-documented. People had been protesting the trial of popular local businessmen. On May 13, after armed men broke the businessmen out of prison, a mass gathering took place. People took to the street to complain about dire economic conditions and repression in the country.

Authorities responded to their complaints with bullets. Hundreds were slaughtered. Some said 750. Some said more. No one believed the government estimate of less than 200.

Perhaps no one will ever know the true number. The Uzbek government rejected calls for an independent inquiry, and to this day, it denies the full extent of the Andijan Massacre.

What is known for sure is that, in the aftermath, authorities rounded up anyone and everyone they imagined had connections to the protests – or were witnesses to their mass murder. Hundreds were forced to flee the country. Authorities continued their hunt abroad, and at home, they tyrannized the families of those who fled for years.

A political crackdown descended on the country. Human rights defenders and journalists were sent to Uzbek prisons, well-known for torture.

In the wake of the massacre, the EU and US were quick to react, condemning the killings and calling for an independent investigation. But they soon, embarrassingly soon, backed down.

The EU’s targeted sanctions on key individuals behind the massacre were scrapped in 2008. Strongest pressure within the bloc came from Germany, with a military base in Uzbekistan, used to support operations in next-door Afghanistan.

Similar considerations also led to the collapse of Washington’s initial resolve: a US military base in Uzbekistan.

This “realpolitik” – that is, a willingness to work with mass murderers – seems not only immoral but also rather pointless today. From the perspective of 2025, with the Taliban back in power in Afghanistan, was supporting a brutal dictatorship in Uzbekistan really worth it?

Today, Uzbekistan has undergone a few changes, but overall, patterns persist. A new president showed some early signs of reform. Some political prisoners were released. But hopes have turned out to be mostly a mirage.

Authorities still attack freedom of expression. They still target activists and journalists. Torture still happens, and the torturers still get away with it.

Little seems to have improved in how security forces respond to large-scale public protests either. When demonstrations broke out in the Karakalpakstan region in 2022, authorities used lethal force against them. Nearly two dozen were killed. Then, as before with the Andijan Massacre, authorities blamed and punished the alleged organizers.

Today, twenty years on, we don’t remember the Andijan Massacre because it’s long past. We remember it because it’s still with us, in the present.