After the renovation work in 2019, the activities of the Museum of Rare Manuscripts of the National University of Uzbekistan have not been restored. By December 2021, more than 100 valuable and extremely rare books were lost there – the total damage was estimated at 2.6 billion soums.
On October 10, the Mirzo Ulugbek district court on criminal cases of the city of Tashkent heard the court case regarding the missing rare books from the National University of Uzbekistan, and the verdict was announced.
It was reported that during the negotiations, the prosecutor asked the court to sentence the defendant to 6 years and 2 months in prison and to recover damages of 2.6 billion soums. The defendant, director of the NUU Information Resource Center I.K. stated that the charges against her were not proven during the investigation and that she did not steal the books.
After more than 2 hours of negotiations, the verdict was announced. According to it, the defendant was sentenced to 2 years of prohibition to work in official and financially responsible positions and 5 years and 1 month of imprisonment.
The defendant I.K., her relatives and her lawyer stated that they were dissatisfied with the court verdict and would file an appeal.
It should be recalled that after the renovation work in 2019, the activities of the Museum of Rare Manuscripts of the National University of Uzbekistan have not been restored. On December 23, 2021, Kun.uz reported that more than 100 books, which are considered valuable and extremely rare, may have been sold there.
A day after the report, the General Prosecutor's Office began to investigate the situation. Initially avoiding commenting on the situation, the UzMU rectorate showed other books to the media and tried to assure them that they were not lost.
A day after the report, the PGO began investigating the library-related case. Initialy, the NUU leadership, which was reluctant to comment on the situation, presented a few books to the mass media and tried to convince them that the rare books were not “lost”.
On February 21, 2022, the prosecutor’s office completed the investigation. During the inspection, 56 pieces of manuscripts and 6 pieces of lithographic works worth 2.6 billion soums, stored in the Fund of the NUU Information Resource Center, were looted and other serious violations of the law were revealed. A criminal case was initiated against the officials.
The initial trial began on August 26 of this year and was not allowed to be filmed due to the ongoing investigation.
According to the PGO press service, after the documentary review and other investigative actions on the criminal case, the activities of other center employees will be assessed too.
