More than 400 lawyers in Tashkent have declared a strike from 3 to 13 December to protest the interference of government agencies – the Interior Ministry, National Security Service, prosecutors, and judges -- in their work. The Initiative Group of the Independent Human Rights Activists of Uzbekistan reported that the striking lawyers were also protesting their low pay-- the average monthly wage of a lawyer as set by the government is 8,000 soms (about $8). The strikers said they were also angered by the constant flouting of the Criminal Procedural Code by prosecutors who question accused persons in the absence of their lawyers, by the falsification of investigation and court records, and by unjust sentences handed down in the courts. (Prime News)