Violence, corruption, and cover-ups – scandals rock Fergana’s police department

The number of crimes and illegal acts committed by police officers in Fergana region has been increasing: a district inspector driving drunk beat a man to death, the regional traffic police chief canceled fines issued to his wife’s Malibu “under the table”, officers pointed a gun at a farmer, and even staged a fake “operation” during which a woman was stripped naked and beaten. This wave of lawlessness has worsened over the past two years – the period when Azizbek Ikromov has headed the regional Department of Internal Affairs (DIA).

Illegal and inhumane actions by police officers in Fergana region are becoming more serious, sparking public outrage and undermining citizens’ peace and dignity. The incident in Furqat district, however, surpassed them all. Ikromov’s tenure as head of the Fergana DIA has been marked by such cases of officers “going off the rails.”

A crime driven by hostility

Assaulting an innocent woman, stripping her and then filming her humiliation – nothing can be more vile. Yet the head of the Furqat district police department, his deputy, and several officers did exactly that without hesitation.

For Gulirano Qosimova, a school principal in Furqat district, 17 April 2025 turned into a nightmare. That day, she went to a familiar official – the head of the district tax inspection, Qurbonali Abdurahmonov – to borrow money for her husband’s treatment. But because Abdurahmonov had personal enmity with Furqat police chief Akmal Khojayev, the latter seized the opportunity: his officers staged a fake “operation”, pretending to catch the official and the principal “in the act”, then beat them, tore off their clothes, and filmed them naked.

But the plan fell apart when the woman refused to yield.

“While I was meeting Qurbonali Abdurahmonov to ask for a loan, DIA officers appeared. They tore our clothes and started beating us. They stripped us completely. I felt utterly humiliated, powerless before a group of men. Following Khojayev’s scenario, they forced us to undress, hit us, and ordered me to look at the camera and say that the tax chief had forced me into sexual relations. I said no – there was no such thing, and I would not falsely accuse anyone,” Qosimova told Kun.uz.

“I can’t describe the scene that was deliberately staged there. I wouldn’t have believed such a thing could happen in Uzbekistan. I never imagined that the very people meant to protect us could stoop so low.”

Following the scandal, Furqat district police chief Akmal Khojayev was dismissed and criminal proceedings were initiated against him. However, Qosimova says some of the officers who participated in the assault remain in their positions.

Gun pointed at a farmer

In another incident in Rishtan district, police officers went to a farmer’s home, assaulted him, and pointed a gun at him – allegedly because he failed to meet the district’s wheat quota.

The victim, Gayratjon Khayrullayev, head of the “Buloqboshi Gulshani” farm, said the officers acted on the order of the district governor. They used physical force and tried to detain him. When his son asked them not to harm his father, they ignored him and shoved the farmer’s elderly mother, causing her to faint.

“The officers suddenly broke in, twisted my arm, and pointed a gun at me, shouting they’d shoot me. The one holding the gun was the local district inspector, Golib Tulanov. My 70-year-old mother tried to intervene, begging them to stop, but he pushed her to the ground. She lost consciousness and had to spend a week in hospital,” Khayrullayev said.

Another Furqat case

In Furqat district again, the local inspector for Karmak neighborhood, Zafar Qoshmatov, was driving drunk when he hit a 63-year-old cyclist and fled the scene.

His father later took the victim – found unconscious in an irrigation ditch – to the hospital, claiming he had found him on the roadside. The victim, Nomonjon Akhmedov, died before receiving medical help.

“My father was 63 and had worked at the cotton reception point for 42 years,” said his son, Sherzod Akhmedov. “He left home around 19:15 to go to work on his bicycle. Drunk, Qoshmatov hit him from behind with his Matiz car and ran away without helping. All the evidence shows he was intoxicated – he even admitted it himself.”

A criminal case was opened against Qoshmatov, who has been detained pending investigation.

“Bonus” for the wife

Akmal Akhmedov, who served as head of the Fergana Regional Traffic Safety Department, illegally canceled more than 100 fines issued to a Malibu registered to his wife. Following the discovery, he was dismissed by order of the Minister of Internal Affairs, and the ministry stated that a full legal assessment would be made.

Had this case not been made public, the officer’s wife might still be driving freely through Fergana’s streets, ignoring red lights.

“At a time when efforts are being made to rid the system of corruption and bribery, the department chief attempted to conceal traffic violations committed with a Malibu-2 registered to his close relative,” the ministry said in an official statement.

All fines related to the violations have since been paid in full.

The “mask show” in a restaurant

In another case, a “mask show” – a raid involving armed, masked officers – was carried out at a restaurant in Fergana city, reportedly under the supervision of Fergana police chief Azizbek Ikromov and regional prosecutor Bakhtiyor Ismoilov.

During the September 2023 incident, the prosecutor allegedly ordered an officer to plant narcotics on the restaurant’s owner to fabricate a criminal case – an instruction captured by surveillance cameras. While police were raiding the restaurant, Ikromov stood outside smoking and watching.

The rot has already spread

In another case, as part of a defamation investigation, a search was conducted at a police officer’s home in Fergana region.

On 20 July 2025, an anonymous individual posted messages in two social media groups claiming that the head of the Fergana regional branch of the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ Criminal Investigation Department had taken a second wife in a religious marriage. A criminal case was opened by the regional prosecutor’s office against the unidentified poster. During the investigation, one police officer was suspected of involvement, and a search was conducted at his residence – though nothing suspicious was found.

Azizbek Ikromov has headed the Fergana Regional Department of Internal Affairs since July 2023. Before that, he served as deputy minister of internal affairs.