29 June 2019
The Tashkent City Court sentenced former Prosecutor-General of Uzbekistan Rashid Qodirov to 10 years in prison on Thursday for extortion, financial fraud, obstruction of justice, money laundering, and more, according to Radio Liberty.
Qodirov was removed from his post as Prosecutor-General in 2015 perhaps due to allegations against his son Alisher Qodirov, who operates retail luxury stores and a healthcare supply firm in Uzbekistan. It is alleged that Alisher Qodirov used his father’s influence to force out competition and get government contracts.
But a month later, Rashid Qodirov was reassigned as judge at the Constitutional Court.
In February 2018 he was arrested on corruption charges and his trial began in January. Human rights organizations voiced concern over allegations of torture and ill-treatment of Qodirov and other defendants linked to his case. The other 12 co-defendants were sentenced for related crimes for up to 19 years in prison.
Sources close to Qodirov said that since being detained on 21 February 2018 he has been subjected to psychological abuse, death threats, sleep deprivation and threats against his relatives, to force him to incriminate himself. More than 40 people, including Qodirov’s relatives, were summoned to testify and that some of them were arbitrarily detained, beaten, and otherwise ill-treated by law enforcement officers.
It was said that the Qodirov family amassed US$1.5 billion in wealth during Rashid Qodirov’s 15 years in office. OCCRP reported.
The people of Uzbekistan play no part in political decision-making processes. So far, no parliamentary or presidential election held in the post-Soviet era has been considered as either free or fair by the international community.
Qodirov was prosecutor at the time the corruption scandal involving late president Islam Karimov’s daughter Gulnara broke out. Karimova was later given 10 years in prison but her sentence was decreased to five years of house arrest.
Switzerland said it would send $133 million in seized assets linked to Gulnara Karimova to Uzbekistan and Karimova claimed that $1.2 billion of her assets have already been repatriated to Uzbekistan. In their statement, Swiss authorities said more than $650 million in other assets remain frozen.
Shavkat Miromonovich Mirziyoyev was appointed prime minister by his then mentor and president Islam Karimov. After the death of Islam Karimov, Mirziyoyev became the president. Mirziyoyev could have been the cause of the ill-treatment of Qodirov as a revenge for prosecution and conviction of Gulnara, the daughter of his mentor.

Nepotism in the Presidential office

Mirziyoyev has two daughters, a son and five grandchildren. His eldest son-in-law, Oybek Tursunov, is the current head of the Mirziyoyev’s presidential administration, while his younger son-in-law, Otabek Shahanov is the head of the presidential security services. His elder daughter Shavkat Mirziyoyev has been appointed deputy head of a newly established state agency in charge of communications and media regulation. Mirziyoyev’s second daughter, Shakhnoza, is also a public servant and holds a mid-level post in the ministry of pre-school education.
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