Former Prosecutor General Rashitjon Qodirov, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison on June 26, 2019, was released on parole. Abdurakhmon Tashanov, the director of the Ezgulik Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan, wrote about the release of "one of the former prosecutor general" without mentioning his name.
The spokesman to the Prosecutor General's Office, Khayot Shamsutdinov, told Daryo that he had no information about the release, the spokesman to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Shokhrukh Giyasov, said that this issue was under the jurisdiction of the court.
Rashitjon Qodirov was in charge of the Prosecutor General's Office in 2000-2015, then he was elected a judge of the Constitutional Court (2015-2017). The launch of a criminal case against him became known in February 2018.
Rashitjon Qodirov was involved in a criminal case involving only 13 people. According to the court ruling, Qodirov, as the Prosecutor General, committed a number of grave and especially grave crimes by prior agreement with a group of persons who held high positions in the prosecutor's office and other law enforcement agencies.
He was charged of accepting bribes, inciting bribes, fraud, deliberate evasion of taxes and other duties, interference in the investigation or resolution of court cases, legalization of proceeds from crime. Other crimes were committed against the order of functioning of government bodies, administration and public associations, the Supreme Court said in a statement.
The closed court session lasted almost six months. Approximately 200 witnesses were heard.
In addition to 10 years in prison and a fine of 500 minimum wages, the court made a proposal to deprive Qodirov of special titles and state awards. In addition, it was determined to turn the seized funds, as well as property, to pay off financial damage.
In May 2018, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, in one of his speeches about Qodirov, who “is in prison with his team” and “is now returning millions of dollars”, said: “In two or three months, he himself will tell you everything on television, how corrupted was everything."
The two subsequent Prosecutor Generals of Uzbekistan - Ikhtiyor Abdullayev (2015-2018) and Otabek Murodov (2018-2019) - were also sentenced to long terms of imprisonment.
In May 2021, Abdurakhmon Tashanov spoke about the visit, together with Ombudsman Feruza Eshmatova, to colony No. 22 of the Main Directorate of the Interior Ministry, where they met with Rashitjon Qodirov and Ikhtiyor Abdullayev.
