The provision - "being in public places with the face covered to the extent that does not allow identification of the person" in the Article 184-4 of the of Administrative Liability Code is now also arbitrarily applied by police and judicial authorities to individuals growing long beards.

According to court documents, on May 29, 2024, a 22-year-old bearded individual was found in the Jizzakh market’s area during a raid.

On August 13 of this year, at the open court session of the Jizzakh city criminal court, judge S. Rasulov found the individual guilty and considered that growing a beard shall be punished by the above Article 184-4 of the Criminal Code.

The court found S.T. guilty under above charge and fined him 1.7 million soums of penalty.

When examining the court documents on this article published by the Supreme Court, it can be seen that from October 31, 2023 until August 22 of this year, about 800 individuals were prosecuted under Article 184-4 of the Criminal Code.

For information: the law adopted on October 31, 2023 made a number of changes to the Administrative Liability Code. In particular, Article 184-1 of the Civil Code - the administrative liability established for individuals wearing prayer clothes in public places has been removed.

While, Article 184-4 was inserted to the Code - liability for being in public places in a way that does not allow identification.

According to the ban, which took effect in November 2023, covering one's face in a public place to an extent that does not allow one to identify one's identity will result in a fine of ten to fifteen times the Basic settlement units. Whilst, there are some exceptions to this, for example, wearing a special headgear that is worn on the basis of medical instructions or to ensure safety in traffic, or covering the face in cases related to labor and service activities, or covering the face of the participants of these events during sports and cultural events, as well as in the legislation other cases expressly permitted are excluded.