Citizens complain about unlawful activities of Tashkent district court on criminal proceedings and DIA employees

The verdict will be announced, the punishment will be imposed. The accused looks around in the courthouse, hoping for justice. Unfortunately, he does not even realize that he has been sentenced in advance, the court session is a performance to formalize that sentence.

Such cases have become commonplace in the Tashkent district court on criminal proceedings. This can be seen in the example of two cases of this court in the last 4-5 months.

A guy who was turned into an enemy of the state

20-year-old Abdurakhim Abduganiyev worked as a salesman in a store. On April 7, 2022, Abdurakhim’s mobile phone will be examined at an operative event held by employees of the Tashkent district DIA. During the investigation, it was found that there were prohibited religious materials in the phone memory card, and Abdurakhim sent them to his acquaintance via Telegram.

Abdurakhim’s relatives and lawyer are completely dissatisfied with the investigation and the court. It is said that officers of the Department for Combating Terrorism and Extremism of the district DIA violated many procedural norms, physically and mentally pressured Abdurahim to “admit” this charge.

Lieutenant M. Khamidov, an investigator of the Investigation Department of the Tashkent district DIA, is so “creative” in writing the indictment that he “makes” a terrible traitor out of Abdurakhim. In particular, the investigator accused the 20-year-old young man of committing crimes under Article 159-1, Paragraph “a” of Article 159-1, Paragraph “a” of Article 159-3 and Paragraph “g” of Article 244¹-3 of the Criminal Code.

Article 159-1 of the Criminal Code stipulates the punishment for crimes expressed in changing the current state system of the Republic of Uzbekistan contrary to the Constitution, openly calling for the usurpation of power or the removal of legally elected or appointed representatives of power or the violation of the territorial integrity of the Republic of Uzbekistan in a manner contrary to the Constitution, as well as preparation, storage or distribution of materials of such content with the purpose of distribution.

For information, in early July of this year in Karakalpakstan, organizers of riots, which caused the death of about 20 people, were charged with this Article 159 of the Criminal Code.

However, the judge of the Tashkent district court on criminal proceedings S. Mukhamedov hastily issued a verdict on August 4, 2022: he found Abdurakhim Abduganiyev guilty under Paragraph “a” of Article 159-3 and Paragraph “g” of Article 244¹-3 of the Criminal Code. The young man was imprisoned for 6 years.

It can be seen from the indictment and the court’s verdict that Abdurakhim Abduganiyev committed the crime specified in Article 159 of the Criminal Code, that is, the crime of encroachment on the constitutional system of the Republic of Uzbekistan, has not been proven by any concrete evidence. This can arouse the opinion that investigator M. Khamidov and judge S. Mukhamedov planned in advance to impose a severe punishment related to deprivation of liberty to the accused by deliberately applying this article. 

According to the indictment and the court verdict, Abdurakhim Abduganiyev said that he downloaded the material from the Internet, without knowing that it was a prohibited material. Then he sent it to two of his acquaintances. That’s all.

In fact, illegal preparation, storage, import or distribution of materials of religious content to the territory of the Republic of Uzbekistan is not a crime, but an administrative offense. According to Article 184² of the Administrative Responsibility Code, this offense is subject to a fine with confiscation of the relevant devices.

If this act was committed after the application of administrative punishment, according to Article 244³ of the Criminal Code, a fine in the amount of 100 to 200 BCAs or correctional work for up to 3 years is imposed.

It can be understood: the investigator and the judge were afraid that if Article 159 was not applied to Abdurakhim, he would only be accused of committing an administrative offense.

Abdurakhim Abduganiyev has not been convicted before. As a member of a religious movement, he was not even on preventive lists. It is not known who or what caused the investigator and the judge to “intervene” in the fate of the young man. Or have DIA employees been instructed to fulfill a “plan” in this direction as well?

The parents of Abdurakhim filed an appeal, asking for justice and mercy.

Letter “i” changes a person’s life into a “hell”

The next unlawful activity of the Tashkent district court on criminal proceedings is related to a quarrel between a couple.

Abror Shamarov, a native of Kazakhstan, married a girl from Uzbekistan in 2011. For some reasons, the couple divorced and 3 of the 4 children were living with the father. On November 30, 2021, Abror had an argument with his wife, who came to see her children. During the argument, the word “harom” was used. For insulting his spouse, Abror was previously punished by the relevant article of the Administrative Responsibility Code.

The woman appealed to the DIA and now a case has been filed against him under Article 140-1 (insult) of the Criminal Code.

For information, Abror Shamarov has been harassed by the Tashkent district DIA for a long time. They will be on the verge of harming him until they get the chance. Kun.uz has enough evidence to substantiate this.

The judge of Tashkent district court, who considered the case, found Abror Shamarov guilty of committing a crime Article 140-1 (insult) of the Criminal Code and imposed a fine in the amount of 5.7 million soums.

The case was re-examined by the criminal trial panel of the Tashkent regional court, the verdict of the Tashkent district court was annulled. Shamarov was acquitted and justice seemed to be restored.

But the cassation instance of the Supreme Court canceled the acquittal and sent the case to the appellate instance for reconsideration. And the court, which cannot do justice, keeps throwing the case from one instance to another and playing around with it.

By the way, it was noted in the acquittal verdict against Shamarov that the preliminary investigation body and the court of first instance did not follow explanations of the decisions of the Supreme Court Plenum, and in order to accuse Abror Shamarov, based only on unsubstantiated testimonies of witnesses.

In addition, according to the conclusion of the linguistic expertise of the court, it was found that in the video presented, Abror Shamarov did not use the word “haromi” (“illegitimate child”) in an argument with his spouse, but used the word “harom” equating it with the meaning of divorce from the Sharia point of view.

This means that the investigator and the judge acted unprofessionally and made a verdict of guilty.

As long as there are arbitrary DIA investigators and judges, injustices will continue to exist in the system.