"Karimov exiled me" — Uzbekistan's first ambassador to the US

“Karimov exiled me” — Uzbekistan’s first ambassador to the US

Muhammadbobur Malikov, who served as the Chairman of the Supreme Court of the UzSSR, the first Minister of Justice of independent Uzbekistan, and the country's first ambassador to the US, spoke in an interview with well-known journalist Ismat Hushev about how he ended up in the US and obtained political asylum.

According to Malikov, the first president of Uzbekistan, Islam Karimov, gradually demoted him from his positions.

“Karimov slowly kept demoting me. Did he send me as an ambassador? No, he exiled me. There was no embassy, no one working at the embassy, there wasn't even a driver. My first months were spent looking for a building for the embassy, looking for a house. Why did this happen? The reason is because I was the grandson of Yuldosh Akhunbabaev. The main goal was to destroy the name of Akhunbabaev. To destroy it by dragging me through the mud, by ruining me completely,” says Muhammadbobur Malikov.

Muhammadbobur Malikov, who was the Minister of Justice in 1991–1993, was born on September 2, 1948, in the city of Tashkent. On his mother's side — through Khayriniso aya — he is the grandson of Yuldosh Akhunbabaev.

“I presented my credentials to Clinton in June. In Uzbekistan, not a single peep was heard regarding this matter, as if nothing had happened. The conclusion to be drawn from this is that the goal was to slowly ruin me completely,” he says.

“Thank God a thousand times, I grew up in such a family that we did not look at other people's property or money, we did not dirty our hands. I, your sister-in-law, and my two daughters never tried to take dishonest money. I was not the master of those funds; my assistant, my deputy — they were the masters of that money.”

According to the former ambassador, less than half a year after his appointment, Islam Karimov came to the US and met with people. However, he completely ignored Muhammadbobur Malikov, who was working as Uzbekistan's ambassador to the United States.

“Then they told me that while flying on the plane, he was shouting loudly and saying all kinds of things about me. As soon as he arrived, he removed me from the post of ambassador. At that time, the chairman of 'Goskontrol' was Mirakhad Mirkasimov, and they appointed me as his deputy. They summoned me [to Tashkent — editor's note], and I went…,” Malikov recalls.

Before leaving the US for Uzbekistan, the former official warned his wife, saying, “If I tell you to come, you come. If I speak in riddles, you wait.”

Having returned to Uzbekistan, Muhammadbobur Malikov went to the chairman of “Goskontrol” and asked for a week's leave to rest. That night, by asking Goga Khidoyatov's two daughters for help, he reached the airport and flew to Samara from there.

“I stayed in a cold place there all night and caught a cold in both of my kidneys. But in the morning, I reached Moscow. I checked into a hotel. It was around October. The time when Yeltsin attacked the White House…,” says Malikov.

The former ambassador called his acquaintances in Moscow and, with their help, obtained a ticket to fly to the US.

“Thus, I became the first high-ranking official to request political asylum after the Soviet Union… Avazkhon Mukhtarov told me that my uncle Karimberdi Akhunbabaev was sick, and assuming that I would come to see him, they wanted to arrest me using police officers,” says Muhammadbobur Malikov.