Saida Mirziyoyeva, Deputy Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the Public Fund for Support and Development of National Mass Media, spoke about the arrest of Guljahon Yuldasheva, the chief physician of the Tashkent Regional Infectious Diseases Hospital.
“This is a very important issue for me as a woman, as a mother and as a member of the Commission on Gender Equality,” Saida Mirziyoyeva said.
She asked the Tashkent regional prosecutor’s office to reconsider the decision, given that Guljahon Yuldasheva is a woman in the first place and has six minor children under her care.
“I have no intention of assessing the legality or illegality of the charges against her, which is the absolute prerogative of the court. But I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the mother of six children, the youngest of whom is only two years old, is taken into custody. Our legislation, like the legislation of other developed countries, includes slightly more privileges for women than men. An example of this is that a woman’s pregnancy or the fact that she has minor children may be a cause for relieving the measures applied against her. This is also a form of humanity.
Why is the law so strict in Guljahon’s case? Is it possible to escape somewhere with six children? Is pre-trial detention the only way for our law enforcement officers? What prevents the application of other effective precautionary measures in criminal procedural law?
An arrest is a powerful stress and spiritual breakdown for a person. Especially, when one has young children at home... That’s why I ask the Tashkent regional prosecutor’s office to reconsider the decision,” Mirziyoyeva said.
In early August, Guljahon Yuldasheva, the chief infectious disease specialist of the Tashkent region, said that the work of medical staff treating coronavirus patients was not adequately encouraged, and the Tashkent regional medical department did not provide the necessary assistance in severe cases.
On September 8, it was reported that Guljahon Yuldasheva had been arrested. The Prosecutor General’s Office commented on the case and said that she was involved in the case as a defendant under Article 167-3 (a) (large-scale embezzlement) and Article 207-3 (a) (causing the death of a person due to the professional negligence) of the Criminal Code, and she was taken into custody as a precautionary measure.
