In Uzbekistan, high-ranking Interior Ministry officers were arrested

In Tashkent and other regions of Uzbekistan, there were searches of relatives of the former commander of the guard troops of the MIA of Uzbekistan, Major General Dmitry Pan. According to a source of ACCA, the amount of confiscated funds is at least $200 000.

A more accurate figure may be said in the official press releases of one of the law enforcement agencies. “It is still unknown whether D. Pan’s case will be widely publicized, the scale of corruption in the Ministry of Internal Affairs amazes investigators,” the source said.

The press service of the Prosecutor General’s office issued the statement on the initiation of a criminal case by the military Prosecutor’s office under the article 301 (abuse of power, excess or omission of power) of the Criminal Code. In particular, it says “On November 23, Dmitry Pan was brought to trial as an accused. By the determination of the Military Court of Tashkent, a preventive measure “detention” was chosen against him”.

The Uzbek media learned about his arrest on November 19 from the speech at the video conference of the country’s Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov. He also announced the dismissal of a dozen high-ranking officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, including Deputy Minister of the Interior, Colonel Muhiddin Zhuraev. Now they are in the detention center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

To the ACCA journalist’s question about the reasons for cleaning up the Ministry’s apparatus, the informant expressed the main version about the hidden struggle of the security forces for power and influence on the President. The facts of bribery, in his opinion, along with violence in penitentiary institutions, are secondary for the country’s leadership, although publications in independent media about torture have become the basis for human rights defenders to speak at international venues.