The blogger, who was transferred to the settlement-colony, was sentenced to 6.5 years in prison in 2021 on charges of defamation and extortion. According to the human rights activist Abdurakhmon Tashanov, he will be released in late April or early May 2024.
Surkhandarya blogger Otabek Sattoriy may be released in the next 2-3 months. Abdurakhmon Tashanov, an activist of the "Ezgulik" society of human rights of Uzbekistan, announced this on his Facebook page.
According to Tashanov, the MIA Penitentiary Department gave him the opportunity to meet Dauletmurat Tajimuratov, who was imprisoned for the Nukus incident, and Otabek Sattoriy, a blogger from Surkhandarya.
Meeting with Otabek Sattoriy
According to Tashanov, on January 13, 2024, he met Otabek Sattoriy in the settlement-colony in Karshi and saw that he was in good health.
The rights activist said in his statement that the blogger will be released at the end of April or the beginning of May 2024, but did not give additional comments on this matter.
"The meeting with blogger Otabek Sattoriy in the settlement-colony went very well. Otabek first thanked everyone who supported him. According to the head of the colony, he will be released at the end of April, beginning of May. He is working in a sewing shop.
As it is the settlement-colony, all convicts are enjoying their rights. Family members and relatives are visiting. Ombudsmen are here every day, just counting the days for freedom. He said: "I don't want my picture in prison to be published on the Internet'', and that's why the colony took my picture with him only to use it in their service, but not to me," Abdurakhmon Tashanov said.
According to the human rights activist, Otabek Sattoriy has no intention to file a further appeal against the verdict.
"He wants to work in the field of information technology. He considers the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev to be a leader with high potential and is proud to serve him. On the contrary, Tashanov called him to try to acquit himself after the end of his sentence", the information of "Ezgulik" society said.
For information, Otabek Sattoriy, who was arrested on January 29, 2021 in an operative event, was convicted of defamation and extortion and sentenced to 6 years and 6 months in prison according to the verdict of the Muzrabot district court on May 10, 2021.
His appeal was heard by the criminal trial panel of the Samarkand regional court based on his lawyer's request to transfer him from Surkhandarya region to another region. The Court of Appeal sentenced Sattoriy to return the two apartments he bought in Termez, but the prison term was left unchanged.
In May 2022, Bekzod Nurmatov, the deputy chairman of the human rights society "Ezgulik" of Uzbekistan, met with Otabek Sattoriy.
