AKIPRESS.COM - Murod Jurayev, a prominent Uzbek opposition figure who was released in 2015 after more than 21 years in prison, has died aged 65, the RFE/RL reported,

Tashkent-based independent journalist Abdurahmon Tashanov told RFE/RL that Jurayev died on December 4 after a long illness.

According to Tashanov, Jurayev had been expected to travel to Germany to receive medical treatment there.

Jurayev, an ethnic Turkmen, used to be an opposition lawmaker in the early 1990s.

In September 1994, he was arrested and charged with planning to forcibly overthrow the government.

His supporters say the case was politically motivated.

In 1995, Jurayev was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

But Uzbek officials extended his prison terms on at least four occasions, saying that Jurayev "violated" internal order within the prison.

His release in November 2015 from a penitentiary in the town of Chirchiq near Tashkent was welcomed by international human rights organizations.