Recently amnestied prisoners are tried in Uzbekistan
In Tashkent, Botir Madaminov was sentenced to 9 years in prison. He was accused of belonging to three groups, which Uzbekistan considers dangerous to state security. Now several more persons accused of extremism and terrorism are preparing for trial.
According to the accusation, B. Madaminov was an adherent of the religious extremist movement “Jihadism”, “Islamic movement of Turkestan” and “Islamic state of Khorasan Vilayat”. Changing the status of a labor migrant, in 2011 he moved from Moscow to Pakistan, where he underwent military training in one of the Islamist squads. As a result of the special operation in April, he was brought to his homeland.
According to ACCA’s expert, “Botir and others like him have become consumables for both militants and special services of Uzbekistan. For gang commanders, their life did not mean anything, and the state did everything for them to seek justice abroad. Two years ago, the President amnestied the so-called “religious people”, but now the modified repressive system is slowly returning the released to prisons, seeing them as a real threat to the authorities. Now dozens of cases are heard in the courts.”
Earlier, ACCA reported that regular detentions of individuals suspected of extremism and terrorism were held in Tashkent and some regions of Uzbekistan. There is no official information about this operation by law enforcement agencies. As ACCA learned from its own sources, soon the cases of 6-8 people detained in late October and early November will be sent to court. All of them were granted amnesty in 2017 in the course of serving a sentence on charges of a crime against the state. Then more than 500 people were released.
According to the investigation of criminal cases instituted against arrested senior officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, they contributed to the early release of some radicals for a bribe.
