On May 10, the Judicial Collegium of the Supreme Court for Criminal Cases sentenced 17 persons who were accused in the case of Sardoba dam burst, the Supreme Court reported.

The court has been considering the case since December 21, 2020, and the trial itself was held behind the closed doors, since the case was said to be related to state secrets. In October 2020, it was reported that that seven of the accused were arrested, six were released on bail, and the other four were signed on proper behavior.

While, the former deputy general director of UE Uztemiryulkurilishmontazh/ex-head of Directorate for construction of hydraulic structures M. Kholmatov was found guilty under paragraphs "a", "c" of Part 3 of Article 167 (embezzlement on an especially large scale by an organized group or in its interests), paragraphs "a", "b" of part 2 of Article 209 (official forgery committed repeatedly or by a dangerous recidivist in the interests of an organized group) and paragraphs "a", "b" of Part 2 of Article 258 (violation of safety rules for mining, construction or explosive work, resulting in the death of a person and other grave consequences) of the Criminal Code. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison with a deprivation of the right to hold official positions for a period of 3 years.

The former chief of the planning department for promising projects of UzGIP LLC S. Rudnev was found guilty under the same articles and sentenced to 5 years in prison with a deprivation of the right to hold official positions for a period of 3 years and a fine of 133.8 million soums.

The former chief of the State Unitary Enterprise "Sirdaryo Suv Qurilish Invest" S. Abdunazarov was found guilty under paragraphs "a", "c" of part 3 of Article 167 (embezzlement on an especially large scale by an organized group or in its interests) and paragraphs "a", "B" of part 2 of article 209 (official forgery committed repeatedly or by a dangerous recidivist in the interests of an organized group) and sentenced to 5 years in prison with a deprivation of the right to hold materially responsible positions for a period of 3 years and a fine of 133.8 million soums.

The former chief of To'palang HDP Irrigation Systems B. Asadov was found guilty under the same articles of the Criminal Code and sentenced to 4 years in prison with a fine of 133.8 million soums.

The former chief of the production department at To'palang HDP Irrigation Systems L. Tozhiddinov was fined 133.8 million soums under the same articles, but due to being imprisoned for 70 days, the amount of the fine was reduced to 125 million 225 thousand soums.

The former chief of To'palang HPD Water Construction K. Ruziev was found guilty under paragraphs "a", "c" of part 3 of article 167 (embezzlement on an especially large scale by an organized group or in its interests), paragraphs "a", " b "part 2 of Article 209 (forgery of officials, committed repeatedly or by a dangerous recidivist in the interests of an organized group) and paragraphs" a "," b "of part 2 of Article 258 (violation of safety rules for mining, construction or explosive work, resulting in the death of a person and other serious effects). He was deprived of the right to engage in entrepreneurial activity for a period of 3 years and a fine of 133.8 million soums, but due to being imprisoned for 296 days, the amount of the fine was reduced to 97 million 540 thousand soums.

The former chief of the production department at To'palang HPD Water Construction A. Shukurov was found guilty under the same articles and deprived of the right to engage in entrepreneurial activity for a period of 3 years and a fine of 133.8 million soums, but in connection with being imprisoned for 70 days the amount of the fine was reduced to 125 million 225 thousand soums.

The chief of Omad Dubl, I. Kattabekov, was found guilty under the same articles and sentenced to 5 years in prison and was deprived of the right to engage in entrepreneurial activity for a period of 3 years and a fine of 133 million 800 thousand soums.

Chief Engineer of Omad Dubl U. Khamraev, Head of Omad Dubl Production Department Sh. Mamirov, Director of Sariosiyo qurilish S. Muroduloev, his deputy A. Muradullaev, director of Trans servis kompleks F. Makhmudov, his deputy Z. Zhabborv were found guilty under similar articles and sentenced to deprivation of the right to engage in entrepreneurial activity for a period of 3 years and a fine of 133.8 million soums.

The head of the Department of Water Resources and Water Use of the Ministry of Water Resources Sh. Kuchkarov was found guilty under Article 203 (violation of the conditions for the use of waters or reservoirs) of the Criminal Code and sentenced to a fine of 22.3 million soums. But due to the fact that he was held in prison for 126 days, his fine was reduced to 6 million 865 thousand soums.

Head of the Directorate for Operation and Development of the Sardoba Reservoir Facility F. Danaboev and was found guilty under Article 203 (violation of the conditions for the use of waters or reservoirs and paragraph "a" of Part 3 of Article 207 (official negligence, resulting in the death of a person) and sentenced to 5 years in prison freedom with the deprivation of the right to hold official positions for a period of 3 years.

Chief Engineer of the Directorate for Operation and Development of the Sardoba Reservoir, S. Kakhkhorov, was found guilty under similar articles and sentenced to 4 years of house arrest with a deprivation of the right to hold official positions for a period of 3 years.

The court also determined measures to recover damages from the defendants as a result of embezzlement, as well as the burst of Sardoba dam.

Thus, six accused received prison terms, one - house arrest, the rest - fines and deprivation of a certain right.

It should be reminded that the burst of the dam of the Sardoba reservoir in the Syrdarya region occurred on May 1. The reservoir itself was built in 2010-2017 for 1.3 trillion soums of budgetary funds (US$ 404.4 million at the Central Bank exchange rate as of January 1, 2017). The operation of the reservoir was carried out by the Directorate for the Use and Development of Sardoba Reservoir Objects under the Uzbekistan Railways.

The presentation of the project to the president in May 2017 was attended by the former chairman of Uzbekistan Railways Achilbay Ramatov (now First Deputy Prime Minister), Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources Shavkat Khamroev (now Minister of Water Resources) and Chairman of Uzsuvenergo Abdugani Sanginov (now Chairman of Uzbekgidroenergo).

At the end of July, the General Prosecutor's Office named the reasons for the man-made disaster - errors in design documentation, during construction and operation. Then it was reported that nine officials of the organizations that took part in the construction of the reservoir were involved in the criminal case.