Uploaded October 2023 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago

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Rita Karasartova loves yoga, travelling and sewing traditional Kyrgyzstani jackets with her daughter. Now she is under house arrest, having spent months detained in a cramped cell unable to see or speak to her family. Worried about her people’s access to water, Rita peacefully opposed a border agreement giving control of a fresh-water reservoir to Uzbekistan. She has been charged with attempting to “violently overthrow the government” and faces 15 years’ imprisonment.