Former MP of the Legislative Chamber, now adviser to the Minister of Environmental Protection Rasul Kusherbayev reported on Saturday that he had been summoned to the Yangiyul district police department of Tashkent province said in a statement.
He said that although it had not been related to the case, his phone was confiscated. He also underscored that the police officers were collecting information about him from neighbors.
The Tashkent province police department reported in a statement on April 20 that the reason for summoning the ex-MP was a complaint filed by a citizen of the Russian Federation about the publication of information on social networks that degraded his honor and dignity, as well as insulted him.
Kusherbayev was summoned to the police department in connection with the pre-investigation probe as part of a criminal case "in the manner prescribed by law." "Relevant procedural actions" were carried out there, the statement added.
The province police department underscored that Kusherbaev's phone was temporarily seized and examined by order of the investigative department in order to clarify the information provided by the applicant, as well as to conduct a comprehensive and high-quality pre-investigation check. They referred to Articles 157 (Grounds for seizure) and 159 (Order or determination on seizure) of the Criminal Procedure Code as grounds for seizure.
Currently, procedural actions within the framework of the case are ongoing, the statement says.
The police department denied the reports of Kusherbaev and "individual public activists" that the former deputy was summoned to the police department on an unfounded statement, that his phone was seized without grounds and that any separate investigations were being conducted in relation to him.
"According to the legislation of our country, a full check will be ensured and a legal assessment of the citizen's statement will be given," the police department emphasized.
The department also reminded that a complaint can be filed regarding the validity of each procedural action and its legality.
The police department called on the public and the media not to disseminate unfounded information and reminded them of the responsibility for interfering in the activities of law enforcement agencies and attempts to influence the outcome of the consideration of a case for a specific purpose, including through the media and social networks.
Later, Kusherbayev reported that the basis for the statement was his post on social networks, where he wrote without specifying anyone's name that there is no need to respond to statements by "a real dog, even if it considers itself a lawyer."
"It turned out that the statement was written by someone who considered himself offended by this thought. It is also unclear since when it is necessary to seize a person's phone to conduct an expert examination of the text," the adviser to the Minister of Ecology underscored.
