After receiving death threats, Irina Matviyenko decides to leave Uzbekistan

Journalist Irina Matviyenko, founder of the "Sukut saqlama" ("Nemolchi") project which fights against violence in Uzbekistan, was forced to leave the country after receiving death threats.  She announced this on her Telegram channel.

Matviyenko commented that she received a threatening message at the end of April.  An unknown person wrote that they knew everything about the journalist and had until the end of the month to kill her.

"My behavior changed after receiving death threats. At first, I tried to treat it like someone's stupid joke, but getting on the train and walking down the hall to the office was scary. I asked my husband to install lights in areas where we work, and to put a lock on the common door.  Last week, after a session with a psychologist, I made a firm decision to leave the country for a few weeks because according to him, the style of these messages is similar to that of a psychopath.   He advised that he has seen a higher than usual increase in mental illness this spring and that person may kill me," Matviyenko wrote. 

The journalist is currently in Georgia and will return to Uzbekistan at a later date.