Strongman Uzbek President Islam Karimov, who has dominated the Central Asian nation for over 25 years, is in intensive care after suffering a brain haemorrhage, his younger daughter said Monday. Ms. Karimova-Tillyaeva said that her father was in stable condition and that it was too early for a prognosis.
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Meanwhile, Regnum news agency reported that police and security forces have formed a cordon around the government hospital where Karimov was being treated.
Karimov, 78, is now in intensive care, Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva said.
On Saturday Cabinet Ministers of Uzbekistan made a statement about his hospitalization.
Russian news agencies on Wednesday said the Independence Day celebration was led by Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyayev, who has been rumored as a possible successor. He has extended his term in office through referendum, neutralized his political opponents and eliminated all opposition media. He then evicted them in anger over US criticism of a violent crackdown on a 2005 uprising in Andijan, where Uzbek troops fired on demonstrators, killing more than 700 people, according to witnesses and human rights groups.
The last time it happened was just before the 2015 presidential election, when Mr Karimov was not seen in public for several weeks – fuelling rumours about his poor health.
Some Russian analysts meanwhile anxious that the United States could try to use a power vacuum to foment “color revolution” protests like those that drove out leaders in Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan. Some Uzbeks have turned up among the Islamic State fighters in the Middle East, but they are not considered a serious threat at home.
There have been multiple rumors that long-standing leader of Uzbekistan, president Islam Karimov, has died, and multiple reports that he was hospitalized after a cerebral hemorrhage today.
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The country’s constitution calls for the chairman of the Uzbek senate to seize the reins of power.
