Brussels, 03/05/2007 (Agence Europe) - Less than two weeks before the next General Affairs-External Relations Council, on 14 May, which is due to review the sanctions imposed by the EU in October 2005 against Uzbekistan's leaders following the Andijan massacre, the European Parliament human rights sub-committee, on Wednesday, applied pressure on the Council not to lift these measures. “No headway” has been made either in Tashkent's investigations into the Andijan massacre or the case of Umida Niyazova, a Human Rights Watch translator recently sentenced to seven years in prison for alleged anti-government activities, said sub-committee chairwoman Hélène Flautre (Greens/EFA). Martin Callanan (EPP, UK) said that “Uzbekistan is the most repressive of the Central Asian states”, and sanctions must be maintained. This view was shared by Lotte Leicht of Human Rights Watch, who told MEPs that sanctions had to be kept in place. The representative of the German presidency, Rolf Schulze, was more reserved, not wanting to prejudge the Council's decision. “The isolation of Uzbekistan is not an option,” he said, adding that it was important that the EU have an institutionalised human rights dialogue with Central Asian countries, Uzbekistan included. This dialogue began only recently, the first meeting took place last month, he said. The EU's economic interests in the region were enormous, but there could be “no trade off” between human rights and economic and commercial issues, he went on. According to Rolf Timans, “One has to be realistic”: the human rights dialogue with Tashkent was only beginning, and we must not expect the Uzbek authorities to release all political prisoners immediately, he said. (hb)