On October 4, the President Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed the amendments to the Criminal Code and the Code of Administrative Liability (CoAL), which toughen the punishment for resisting a representative of the government. The amendments were passed by the Legislative Chamber on August 24 and approved by the Senate on September 30. The amendments took effect on the October 5th.
The Article 219 of the Criminal Code "Resisting a representative of authority or a person performing a civic duty" now stipulates that resistance, that is, active opposition to the legitimate activities of a representative of authority performing official duties or a person performing a civic duty, is punishable by a fine of 50 to 100 basic values (BV=270,000 soums, or 25 USD) or compulsory community service up to 360 or correctional labor up to 3 years or house arrest from 1 to 3 years or imprisonment from 1 to 3 years. (Previous punishment: fine up to 50 BV or compulsory community service up to 360 or correctional labor up to 3 years or house arrest up to 1 year or imprisonment up to 1 year.)
Coercion of an official in office or a person executing a civic duty in any form to refuse to execute official duties or execute civic duty, as well as to commit illegal actions, is now punishable by house arrest from 3 to 5 years or imprisonment from 3 to 5 years years. (Previous punishment: correctional labor up to 3 years or house arrest from 2 to 5 years or imprisonment up to 5 years).
According to the amended article 194 of the CoAL "Obstructing a police officer", failure to comply with the legal requirements of the police officer to stop offenses, present IDs for verification, to follow or appear at the police station within a specified period without good reason, to stop the vehicle, to provide assistance to victims or any other disobedience to the legal requirements of a police officer, as well as failure to comply with the legal requirements of other persons carrying out the duties of protecting public order and ensuring the rights and freedoms of citizens, entails the imposition of a fine from 1 to 12 BV (previously - from 0.5 to 2 BV).
The same offense, committed repeatedly within a year after the application of an administrative penalty, entails the imposition of a fine from 12 to 15 BV (previously - from 3 to 3 BV) or administrative arrest up to 15 days.
Article 194-1 "Obstructing a serviceman (employee) of the National Guard of the Republic of Uzbekistan" states: "Obstructing a serviceman (employee) of the National Guard of the Republic of Uzbekistan to stop offenses, present IDs for verification, to follow or appear in the bodies of the National Guard of the Republic Uzbekistan (law enforcement agencies) within the specified period without good reason, about stopping the vehicle, providing assistance to the injured, or otherwise disobeying the legal requirements of a serviceman (employee) of the National Guard of the Republic of Uzbekistan shall entail the imposition of a fine from 1 to 12 BV (previously - from 0.5 to 2 BV).
The same offense, committed repeatedly within a year after the application of an administrative penalty, is now punishable by a fine of 12 to 15 BV (previously - from 2 to 3 BV) or administrative arrest up to 15 days.
The Article 195 "Obstructing the execution of official duties by employees of the internal affairs bodies" now establishes that public appeals in any form for non-compliance with the legal requirements of an police officer in connection with the execution of his official duties, as well as the dissemination of deliberately false fabrications with the aim of provoking mass disobedience to police officers entail the imposition of a fine from 3 to 20 BV (previously - from 3 to 5 BV) or administrative arrest up to 15 days.
Article 195-1 "Obstructing the execution of their official duty by servicemen (employees) of the National Guard of the Republic of Uzbekistan" punishes public calls in any form for non-compliance with the legal requirements of a soldier (employee) of the National Guard in connection with the execution of his official duties, as well as the spread of deliberately false fabrications for the purpose of provoking mass disobedience to the servicemen (employees) of the National Guard, a fine from 3 to 20 BVs (previously - from 3 to 5 BVs) or administrative arrest up to 15 days is imposed.
The punishment under article 198 "Obstructing the execution of official duties of a representative of the authorities" has also been amended. These actions entail the imposition of a fine on citizens from 1 to 12 BVs (previously - from 0.5 to 1 BV), and on officials - from 3 to 15 BVs (previously - from 1 to 2 BVs).
The same offense, committed repeatedly after the application of an administrative penalty, is punishable by a fine for citizens from 12 to 15 BVs (previously - from 1 to 3 BVs), and for officials - from 15 to 20 BVs (previously - from 3 to 5 BVs).
