Biography
Safar
Bekjan (Bekchanov Saparbay) was born in 1961, on September 30, in
Kharazm region of the Republic of Uzbekistan. His ancestors and
family members were persecuted, exiled and murdered as “People’s
enemy” by exSoviet government. The repression which has started
against his family in 1924 is continued by Islam Karimov’s
dictatorial regime so far. His two uncles were shot by Stalin’s
“Troyka” and another two had been exiled to Siberia which was
fatal for either of them.
He
was educated and grown personally by his grandfather Bekjan Bek who
was under constant surveillance by Soviet KGB for his ideological
enmity to communism. That very man Bekjon Bek played crucial role in
Safar’s education and from him he has learnt to be intolerant
toward communism and Marxism. His grand grandfather whose name was
Nizamiddin Gurganji used to hold the second highest position, Grand
Vizier, in Bukhara Amir’s reign.
Safar
Bekjan’s loath to former Soviet empire was based on deep knowledge
as he was grown and educated under strong influence of literature and
materials which described Soviet’s country as “Evil Empire”.
Since his early 14s he started to write poetry in which he tried to
unveil bloody face of the “Evil Empire”. In 1979 he was accepted
to correspondence faculty of journalism of Tashkent State University.
He was expelled from that University soon due to his overt criticism
of Lenin for his nasty saying about Turkistani people. When Soviets
took the power in Russian Empire Lenin said: “Communism brought
liberty for Turkistani people who have been living as an animal for
centuries” and openly challenging to that words, which were said by
the founding father of Soviet’s country, ended for Safar
tragically.
In
1983 Safar Bekjan entered the Uzbek Literature Faculty of Pedagogical
Institute and in 1985 he publicly supported ethnic Crimean Tartar
students’ hunger strike against Soviets at the same Institute. Due
to his overt support of anticommunist movement and hunger strike he
had been expelled from his Institution for the second time and even
his property, including house, had been confiscated. Aftermath he was
arrested and accused in supporting and implementing anticommunist
propaganda. He was released from confinement with the involvement of
his grandfather and under condition of not living nor inhabiting in
big cities across the Soviet Union. Virtually, it was an exile of
young dissident whose lone challenge to communism was punished
ruthlessly. He was pardoned with Gorbachev’s “Glasnost” policy
in 1987 and returned to Tashkent from deserted area of inner Central
Asia.
From
1988 prominent representatives of Uzbek youth movement for liberty
started gathering around him. In 1989 he was offered a position in
Youths’ Movement of Uzbekistan and begun working as financial and
organizational executive at that Movement. During his years at that
Movement he was invited to work for Uzbek government. In 1989’s
autumn then first secretary of communist party of Uzbekistan current
president/dictator Islam Karimov personally conducted meeting with
him and offered position to Safar Bekjan at his administration which
was rejected by Mr. Bekjan. After rejecting the offer of most
omnipotent person in Uzbekistan he has faced to great obstacles.
He
is the co-founder of Birlik Liberation movement and “Erk”
Democratic Party of Uzbekistan. Due to his dynamic political
activities he was arrested with fabricated case by Uzbek police and
intelligence service and severely tortured. Current head of state of
Uzbekistan dictator Karimov personally ordered his punishment and
even execution and under the pressure and open threat to his life he
was compelled to leave Uzbekistan in 1997, February. Mr. Bekjan came
to Moscow but Uzbek regime continued to persecute him and he was
forced to leave the Russia too. As a well-known writer and member of
PEN-International in 1998 he was invited to Lausanne, Switzerland and
since then he has been living in Switzerland. For the last decade
Karimov’s regime has not stopped persecuting the Mr. Bekjan’s
family, his brothers are sentenced for prison with fabricated
accusations and his little brother mysteriously died in prison.
Although Safar Bekjan is living under constant persecution by Uzbek
regime, he managed to write several scientific and literary books and
two monographs. He still remains loyal to the principles of liberty,
democracy and continues to fight against dictatorial regime in
Uzbekistan. Moreover, he worked as an expert for UN’s commission on
human rights. In 2010 Mr. Bekjan founded democratic fund of
Uzbekistan the “UzDemFund”. In 2011 he made a query to Swiss
Prosecution on money laundering matter of Karimov’s family. Today’s
widely known money laundering scheme of Karimov family through
Switzerland-Sweden-Finland-the UK, which was aired on Sweden National
TV, virtually was started by Mr. Bekjan’s query and he is the
person who put mile stone to that investigation.
