Uzbekistan: number of detected bribe takers increased by 57%

Crime indicators became more significant when, compared to 2020, the volume of civil, economic and criminal cases increased significantly in 2021. This became known following a press conference with the participation of deputy chairmen of the Supreme Court.

The published statistical data contain facts that are alarming for the country: in 2021, the number of serious crimes, such as premeditated murder (by 16.7%), intentional infliction of serious or moderate bodily harm (by 61%), and rape (by 13.5%), robbery (by 59.3%), plunder (by 1.8 times), theft by appropriation or embezzlement (by 1.5 times), theft (by 66.2%), bribery (by 56.9%), violation of traffic safety rules (by 28.7%), vehicle theft (39.2%) and hooliganism (by 87.6%) increased.

This list doesn’t include data that 185 cases of child trafficking were detected in Uzbekistan in 2017-2020. For the past year, there is no such data in the public space. Comparative suicide figures are also not mentioned, although in 2020, 500 minors committed suicide or attempted suicide.

In a tradition dating back to the Soviet Union and often used by the Uzbek bureaucracy, the actual number of crimes is not reported, but the following figures are given: in 2021, the courts considered 47,659 criminal cases, 428,869 cases of administrative offenses, 518,112 civil cases, 175,445 economic and 15,146 public disputes.

Speakers also noted a decrease in less significant criminal acts. In the list, there were non-payment of alimony (by 10.8%), illegal receipt or transfer of foreign currency (by 24.5%), illegal production or circulation of seed products (by 68.4%), illegal circulation of potent or poisonous substances (by 83.3%).

Earlier, ACCA wrote about an increase in the number of prisoners in 2021 compared to 2020 – from 22,000 to 29,000. Recently, President Mirziyoyev pardoned 63 people who were serving sentences in custody. On December 7, 2021, 182 prisoners were released under a similar decree in connection with the Constitution Day holiday.

In 2021, more than 4,000 people were released from the courtroom. Charges were dropped against about 8,000 citizens under unreasonably brought articles. 859 people were acquitted. All this, according to the President, “is the most important result of our reforms in the judicial and investigative sphere.” Despite such actions, there are more and more convicts, especially young ones, due to the tense socio-economic situation during the pandemic, as well as more sentences under the ‘serious articles’ of the Criminal Code.