The investigation into the case of the blogger Otabek Sattoriy has been completed, the indictment has been transferred to the Prosecutor’s Office for taking to court. This was reported by the press service of the Investigation Department under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Uzbekistan.
The Department is confident that in the period from June 2020 to January 2021, the blogger “committed crimes such as extortion, libel and insult” against eight people, “with the aim of deriving material benefit from some of them”.
Based on the results of investigative actions, on February 24, the Investigation Department under the Internal Affairs Directorate of Surkhandarya region brought charges against Otabek Sattoriy under paragraphs “a” and “b” of part 2 of article 165 (“Extortion committed repeatedly or by a dangerous repeat offender on a large scale”) and paragraph “a” of part 3 of article 165 (“Extortion on an especially large scale”), paragraphs “a” and “d” of part 3 of article 139 (“Libel combined with an accusation of committing a grave or especially grave crime, for mercenary or other vile motives”) and paragraph “a” of part 3 of article 140 (“Insult in connection with the performance by the victim of his official or civil duty”) of the Criminal Code.
On February 11, the Criminal Court of Termez city found the blogger Otabek Sattoriy guilty under articles 40 (“Slander”), 41 (“Insult”), and 202-2 (“Dissemination of false information”) of the Administrative Code. He was fined $ 940.
Then, in the message of the Prosecutor General’s Office, it was stated that the reason for such punishment was the spread of false information on social networks in January, consisting of “insults and slander” in relation to employees of the coal warehouse “Denau” and the zoo in the city of Termez about embezzlement of property and “other illegal actions”. At the same time, lawyers didn’t want to comment on violations during detention and closed court hearings, implying the blogger’s status as a particularly dangerous criminal. The question about the unhurried filing of a lawsuit by the blogger’s “victims” hung in the air.
Earlier, the ACCA wrote that since the arrest on January 29, the investigators, after three days of their work, decided to indict Sattoriy under the second part of article 165 “Extortion” of the Criminal Code, which entails imprisonment for a term of 10 to 15 years. At the beginning of the investigation, a “lighter” punishment was considered – restriction of freedom up to 5 years or imprisonment for the same period.
The supervisory authority explained that appeals to the actions of Sattoriy were considered on seven facts, and “the investigation clarifies the circumstances of the case”. At the same time, “when studying the legality of the initiation of a criminal case, no facts of violation of the law by the investigation department of the regional police department were revealed”.
All these days, before the news about the transfer of the case to the court, the police officers disseminated information about a forthcoming release. Otabek’s relatives stopped communicating with the media and refused to meet with the journalist in Termez.
First, the Investigation Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Uzbekistan charged Sattoriy with extortion of cash and a mobile phone from unknown people.
Otabek became the first accused for spreading false information, which provides for a different punishment after the amendments to the legislation that were made on December 26, 2020.
In the media sphere, the case of the provincial blogger Sattoriy is considered as a warning. Otabek criticized the local authorities, always emphasizing his patriotism and dissatisfaction with foreign critics of the regime. At the suggestion of official Tashkent, the local authorities organized a show trial in order to intimidate even the capital’s journalists and bloggers burdened with self-censorship, whose publications and posts on social networks raise the degree of public discontent with the actions of officials.
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