The second court hearing of the criminal case against religious scholar Alisher Tursunov, aka Mubashshir Akhmad, took place Monday in Tashkent’s Uchtepa District criminal court. Two experts who gave political and religious opinions testified at the open court hearing.
In the hearing which lasted more than 2 hours was held in an open session.
The case is being considered by the judge Bobur Rakhimov, with the participation of the attorney of Uchtepa District Erkin Narzullaev, as well as lawyers led by Abdullah Sodiq.
The second court session was attended by experts who, at the request of the investigative body, gave opinions on the materials published by Alisher Tursunov on his social networks. In particular, Odil Musaev, a professor of political science at Renaissance University, gave his opinions on the case. Shahboz Nizomov, a specialist in the Religious Studies Expertise Department of the Committee for Religious Affairs, made statement from a religious point of view.
After arguments of the team of experts and lawyers, the second session ended and the court announced a pause until September 15.
Alisher Tursunov was charged under three articles of the Criminal Code:
Article 244-3: Illegal production, storage, import or distribution of materials of religious content;
Article 244-1: Production, storage, distribution or display of materials that threaten public safety and public order;
Article 156: Incitement to national, racial, ethnic or religious hatred.
At the court hearing on August 19, Mubashshir Ahmad confirmed that he had distributed religious materials without the permission of the Committee for Religious Affairs, explaining this by the fact that he was not on the territory of Uzbekistan. He also stated that he would not admit the charges under the remaining two articles.
At the request of the prosecutor, the judge prohibited audio and photo-video recording of the hearing. However, the trial will be held in public - representatives of the media and the public may attend it.
51-year-old Alisher Tursunov is active in the Uzbek segment of social networks. The religious scholar is the author of several religious books and educational projects such as Azon.uz and Azon TV.
He had been living in Turkey for several years. He was detained in Istanbul on May 8 this year and was deported to Uzbekistan on May 10.
