Photo: kommersant.ru
An inmate who escaped from the Andijan prison during the mass prison break on May 13, 2005, has returned to Uzbekistan and is now serving the remainder of his sentence, Kun.uz reports.
Khamitbek Yusupzhanov, a repeat offender, was first convicted at the age of 16. In May 2004, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison for aggravated murder and armed robbery. The first three years were to be served in a high-security prison. In October 2004, he was transferred to Pretrial Detention Center No. 3 under the Andijan regional police department, where he remained until May 12, 2005.
In the early hours of May 13, a group of armed men—officially described as members of the religious extremist group Akromiylar—stormed the prison in an attempt to free their associates. In the chaos, other inmates, including Yusupzhanov, also escaped.
“They were talking about seizing power. I gathered my things and, like the other inmates, walked out of the prison. I saw injured police officers and realized it was an armed attack. The terrorists blocked the road and told us to move along the street toward the Andijan regional administration building,” Yusupzhanov later recounted during court proceedings, 15 years after the events.
Yusupzhanov fled to Kyrgyzstan and then to Kazakhstan, where he lived under the alias Akromjon. He found work, married, and started a family. His wife was unaware of his true identity. In May 2020, driven by what he described as homesickness, he confessed. He summoned a local police inspector and revealed his real name. When officers from the prosecution and the Interior Ministry arrived, they took his fingerprints and confirmed that Uzbekistan had listed him as a wanted individual on terrorism charges.
Yusupzhanov denied any involvement in terrorist activities or ties to Akromiylar, and requested leniency. In 2021, the Andijan Regional Criminal Court dropped most of the serious charges against him for lack of evidence, including the terrorism charges. The charge of prison escape was also dismissed due to the statute of limitations. However, since he had not completed his original 20-year sentence, Yusupzhanov was returned to prison to serve the remainder. He is now 49 years old.
According to official accounts, during the night of May 13, 2005, and throughout the following day, armed militants attacked the prison and several government buildings in Andijan, killing 12 law enforcement officers and seizing 334 weapons. Authorities said the attackers took 70 hostages, 15 of whom were killed. Troops were later deployed to the city. Official figures report 187 fatalities, though human rights groups estimate between 500 and 1,500 deaths, including many women, children, and elderly civilians. The events would go down in history as the Andijan massacre.
