The State Security Service of Uzbekistan reported the suppression of the illegal activities of lawyers in Tashkent and Samarkand.
According to the State Security Service, a lawyer from a law office in Tashkent and a lawyer from a construction company promised, through high-ranking acquaintances in the judicial sphere, for $75,000 to obtain a change of sentence to a more lenient one for a man convicted in 2021. The convict was sentenced to imprisonment for 8.5 years under Articles 131 (pandering or running brothels) and 135 (trafficking in persons). The agreement provided for assistance in excluding Article 135 from the charges.
Upon receiving the requested money, both lawyers were detained. It is reported that the lawyer in 2015-2020 worked as a judge of the Bekabad interdistrict court for civil cases, and the lawyer in 1999-2003 was an employee of the Bukhara regional court for criminal proceedings.
In another case, a lawyer from a law firm, previously convicted of fraud, was detained in Tashkent while receiving $17,000. He promised, through his acquaintances in the judiciary, to replace the punishment of a prisoner imprisoned for a long time with a punishment not related to imprisonment.
In Samarkand, a lawyer from the Bar Association was detained, promising through his acquaintances in the prosecutor’s office that a preventive measure in the form of detention would not be applied to the suspect. For this he asked for $2,000, of which he received $1,500.
Criminal cases have been initiated under Article 168 (fraud) and Article 211 (bribe-giving) through Article 28 (types of accomplices in a crime) of the Criminal Code. A preventive measure in the form of detention was applied against the detainees.
