Uzbekistan’s first and only president, Islam Karimov, may or may not be dead. According to the Central Asia-focused news site, Ferghana News, which cited sources close to the regime, the leader died after suffering a stroke at 13:30 MSK.
However other Russian news agencies, including Interfax and the state-run RIA Novosti, have cited sources saying the Uzbek president is still alive, but hospitalized.
Speculation on Karimov’s condition began on Sunday when the government of Uzbekistan issued an unprecedented statement and confirmed reports that the president, who has ruled the country since 1989 had been taken to the hospital.
The government statement was scant on details, saying only that that the 78-year-old Karimov was undergoing treatment for an undisclosed period of time. But Monday, Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva, the president’s youngest daughter, confirmed Karimov’s poor health. She wrote on her Instagram account that the Central Asian ruler is suffering from a brain hemorrhage, and that “it is too early to make any predictions about his future health.”
Islam Karimov was born on January 30, 1938 in Samarkand. He became an official in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, becoming the party's First Secretary in Uzbekistan in 1989. On March 24, 1990 he became President of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic. He declared Uzbekistan an independent nation on August 31, 1991 and subsequently won Uzbekistan's first presidential election on 29 December 1991, with 86% of the vote. In 1996, Karimov extended his term until 2000. He was reelected with 91.9% of the vote in the Uzbek presidential election, on January 9, 2000, as well as in 2007 and 2015.
