On September 20, the Kagan district criminal court of Bukhara province sentenced the bus driver who was guilty for a traffic accident in March that resulted in the death of two schoolchildren, a boy and a girl.

As reported earlier, on March 18, the bus, which was carrying 27 students from specialized school No. 5 in the Kagan District to the provincial theater, grossly violated traffic rules by trying to speed through an intersection with a broken traffic light, although it should have given way. A concrete mixer driving on the main road crashed into the bus. As a result, the bus overturned. The schoolchildren said that they asked the driver several times not to exceed the speed limit.

According to the verdict, 33-year-old Otabek Sharopov was found guilty of committing a crime under Violation of traffic safety rules or operation of vehicles, resulting in human casualties.

In court, the driver said that he saw a broken traffic light and a "Give Way" sign, but decided that he would have time to cross the intersection - it seemed to him that the truck driving on the main road was far away.

In the footage from the Istiqlol TV channel, the defendant says that he caused the accident "not on purpose", that he was very sorry and asks for forgiveness. Meanwhile, he asked the court to mitigate the sentence.

The court sentenced the man to 9 years of imprisonment in a penal colony with deprivation of the right to drive all types of vehicles for three years. The term of serving the sentence is calculated from the date of detention - March 25.

The driver is also required to pay 10 million soums to two students to cover the costs of future treatment and compensate 61.4 million soums for damage to the concrete mixer.