Former Prosecutor General of Uzbekistan was placed in pre-trial detention center

On September 18, the measure of restraint on the former Prosecutor General Otabek Murodov accused of corruption was changed. From under house arrest, employees of the State Security Service transported him to a departmental pre-trial detention center in the city of Zarafshan (Navoi region).

Otabek Murodov is accused of committing crimes under Articles 205 (“Abuse of power or official authority”), 210 (“Taking a bribe”) and 211 (“Giving a bribe”) of the Criminal Code of Uzbekistan. He faces up to 15 years in prison. In his speech to the senators of the Parliament, the President Mirziyoev said that Murodov took money in the amount of “100.000 and 50.000 US dollars”, but he did not tell to whom the former prosecutor general had given bribes. It is noteworthy that for involvement in serious crimes, Murodov was only under house arrest.

Mirziyoev had no doubt that in the near future court decisions on ex-head of the State Security Service Ikhtiyor Abdullaev and former Prosecutor General Rashid Kadyrov would be announced. They “will receive long sentences”. Both are accused of abuse of power and bribery.

The Prosecutor General’s Office declined to comment on the fact of Murodov’s arrest for journalists of Radio “Svoboda” [“Liberty”], who in turn received this information from the Presidential administration.

“New investigative measures are not carried out exactly with newly discovered circumstances, as prosecutors and investigators like to say,” a former law enforcement officer told ACCA. “The next propaganda campaign against corruption in Uzbekistan is being prepared for the general public. You will see, there will be new names of accomplices of bribe takers. The people during the TV show about the courts and the sentences will breathe with satisfaction, rejoicing in justice.”