President Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed the Pardoning a group of persons serving a sentence who sincerely repented of their deeds and firmly embarked on the path of correction Decree.
The Decree signed on the occasion of the 33rd anniversary of Uzbekistan’s Constitution pardoned 615 people. Of those pardoned, 220 have been fully released from serving the sentence, 123 have been released on parole, the punishment of 97 persons has been replaced with a milder one. While, the sentences of 45 people have been reduced.
Among those pardoned have been 29 women, 23 men aged over 60, 9 foreign nationals, 264 convicts under the age of 30 (including 2 minors), 9 people who participated in the activities of banned organizations.
Relevant ministries and departments have been instructed to return the pardoned to their families and loved ones, to assist them in social adaptation, helping with employment, to choose a healthy lifestyle and taking a worthy place in society.
The pardon tradition on the occasion of various public holidays dates back to the Soviet times, being the means of earning political points and raising approval ratings. The pardon tradition nourishes corruption within the penitentiary system, with many convicts trying to bribe officials in return of being added to pardon lists. This in turn results in well-off people not getting intimidated from committing crimes due to the existence of pardon lifeline.
