Elderly woman from Navoi sentenced to 3 years in prison for “liking” a religious lecture 5 years ago

On May 31 of this year, the court verdict was announced in the Nurota district court against a 57-year-old woman living in Khatirchi district (the verdict is posted on the online platform of the Supreme Court). It is known that the accused woman worked as a caregiver for the elderly in Istanbul, Turkey, from 2015 to 2019.

In 2018, he opened a profile on the social network Odnoklassniki.ru and clicked the “like” icon on a 5-minute video lecture about “chastity” by an Uzbek-speaking person.

4 years after the woman returned home, on February 15, 2023, DIA officers called her to the Khatirchi district DIA. Court documents state that the woman's mobile device and social media profile were searched “with appropriate sanction”. DIA officers also checked the profile of the woman on Odnoklassniki and found that she had liked the above video.

Investigative body classified this post as “like” attitude symbol and distributed it to 130 of her virtual friends on the Internet.

The woman's Motorola mobile phone was taken as material evidence on February 15, 2023, and based on the expert opinion of the Committee on Religious Affairs, it was determined that this report was filled with ideas of religious fanaticism, and it was prohibited to import, prepare and distribute it in the territory of Uzbekistan.

According to court documents, the accused could not remember this action. Another important point is that the woman "liked" it when she was working as a migrant in Turkey (Istanbul) and not in Uzbekistan.

The woman said in the court that she did not know that the posts she "liked" would spread to her virtual friends, she could not remember when and why she clicked, and she regretted what she had done. In addition, the 57-year-old pensioner asked the court for relief, saying that her health is not good, she developed osteoporosis in her legs after the covid, she was leaning on a cane, and she had 3 children under her care.

In the court, 2 witnesses confirmed that "like" was printed on the above report in the profile of the woman.

The accused's son said that he was talking to his mother through Odnaklasniki, but he was not aware that "like" was printed on such a report, and he asked the court for relief for his mother.

The preliminary investigation body accuses the woman of Paragraph "g", Part 3, Article 244-1 of the Criminal Code - storing and disseminating materials containing ideas of religious fanaticism that threaten public safety and public order and using the Internet global information network.

Taking into account the mitigating circumstances, the court came to the conclusion that the accused "can be re-educated without being separated from society" and imposed another lighter type of punishment, which is not provided for in the sanction of Article 244-1 (the punishment of restriction of freedom for 3 years).

According to the court verdict, the woman is restricted from leaving her place of residence from 22:00 in the evening to 06:00 in the morning, and during this period, she should:

not to participate in public and other events;
not to change the place of residence without the consent of the body controlling it;
not leave the territory of Navoi region;
not use the Internet.

The verdict issued in connection with the blocking of the woman's profiles on social networks was sent to the Navoi Regional SSS Department for execution.

For information, according to Article 11 of the current Criminal Code, a person who commits a crime on the territory of Uzbekistan will be held accountable under this Code.