by Sabrina Tavernise, International Herald Tribune, France - Three years ago this month, the government in this eastern Uzbek city turned its guns on its own citizens, killing hundreds and drawing condemnation and sanctions from the West for what was the bloodiest repression since Tiananmen Square. In a Soviet-style sleight of hand, however, the Uzbek government has deleted the event from this city's past, and in recent months has taken some unusual steps: It allowed the International Committee of the Red Cross back into its prisons, released a number of human rights advocates, and enacted laws canceling the death penalty and introducing habeas corpus.