The Legislative Chamber passed the Liberalization Of Crimes Related To Violation Of The Rules Of Stay İn Uzbekistan Of Foreign Natıonals And Stateless Persons Bill, the MP of the People’s Democratic Party Shukhrat Mamadzhanov told the Xalq Sozı newspaper.

“In our country, unlike other states, there is criminal liability for violation of the rules of stay, including imprisonment for up to three years,” the MP said.

When preparing the amendments, the deputies analyzed the foreign law enforcement practice, took into account the opinion of the public, travel firms and other organizations.

As a result, a decision was made to delete the article 224 “Violation of the rules of stay in the Republic of Uzbekistan” from the Criminal Code, which means that foreign citizens and stateless persons shall no longer be prosecuted for this offense.

Currently, for violation of the rules of the passport system (the dishonarable propiska system – Ed.), the citizens of Uzbekistan are being fined from 0.5 to 3 minimum wages (MW=220,000 soums, or 23 USD), and for foreign citizens and stateless persons - from 50 to 100 minimum wage. This "violates the principles of equity and humanism," said Shukhrat Mamadzhanov.

The passed bill proposes to significantly reduced the fine. “In order to implement the principles of equality, humanism and justice”, foreign citizens and stateless persons shall bear liability based on the number and duration of overstay.

Now, for the first violation of the rules of stay, the offender will be banned from entering Uzbekistan for a period of 1 year, and in case of a repeated violation - for 3 years.

Also, a foreign citizen and a stateless person under the age of 18 shall bear liability for violation of the rules of stay.