RFE/RL's Uzbek Service relies on innovation and a wide network of local sources and platforms to uncover news and engage with audiences in one of the world’s most restrictive societies.
Uzbek media reported on December 22 that the former governor of the Izboskan district in the eastern region of Andijon, Serobiddin Ismoilov, was arrested two days earlier on charges of abuse of power.
Uzbekistan's Labor Migration Agency said on December 21 that 119 Uzbek nationals who had illegally entered the United States, mostly via Mexico, had been flown back to Tashkent.
Uzbek media reported on December 19 that the governor of the Tashkent region's Bekobod district, Shuhrat Mirzaev, was detained amid an ongoing anti-corruption campaign.
Tashkent-based human rights activist Abdurahmon Tashanov said on December 18 that a court in the eastern Uzbek region of Andijon sentenced blogger Otabek Ahliddinov to seven years and one month in prison on charges of financial fraud.
The Tashkent regional court on December 13 rejected an appeal filed by blogger Lemara Mirzaahmedova against the 7 1/2-year prison sentence she received in October on charges of defamation, slander, and extortion that stemmed from her social-media posts criticizing the government.
Blogger Otabek Sattoriy, who was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison in May 2021 on charges of extortion and slander, has reportedly been transferred to a colony settlement -- a dormitory-like penitentiary located near an industrial facility where convicts work alongside regular employees.
We've seen Kyrgyzstan's top crime boss gunned down by security services and a reputed godfather in Uzbekistan arrested. But experts warn it could take years to understand the consequences of the campaigns targeting organized crime in both countries.
Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev has pardoned 334 inmates who were serving prison terms for criminal offenses.
Uzbek blogger Fozilxoja Orifxojaev, who was sentenced to 7 1/2 years in prison in January 2022 over a post on Facebook, was released from prison after his sentence was replaced with a parole-like sentence.
Uzbekistan's Supreme Court said on December 1 that the Tashkent city court has suspended the trial of 21 people allegedly responsible for the deaths of at least 65 children who consumed a cough syrup made by Indian pharmaceuticals company Marion Biotech.
A court in Uzbekistan's eastern region of Ferghana sentenced blogger Olimjon Haidarov on December 1 to eight years in prison on charges of extortion, defamation, and libel.
Unidentified persons wrote pro-Palestinian slogans on the walls of a synagogue in Uzbekistan's capital, Tashkent, the AZfront Telegram channel reported on November 27.
An Uzbek man deported from France in September has been arrested in Uzbekistan on charges of terrorism and smuggling, his mother told RFE/RL on November 22.
A 19-year-old Uzbek man has been sentenced by a Samarkand regional court to 2 1/2 years in prison for insulting President Shavkat Mirziyoev in an Instagram post.
Presidents Shavkat Mirziyoev of Uzbekistan and Sergio Mattarella of Italy issued a joint statement in Tashkent on the development of a partnership and cooperation between the two nations, the Uzbek presidential press service said on November 10.
In the latest twist to a drama surrounding once-powerful, now-disgraced Uzbek socialite Gulnara Karimova, her ex-husband has been arrested in Hong Kong. Rustam Madumarov may have been sent by a relative of President Shavkat Mirziyoev to retrieve some of Karimova's frozen bank assets.
The first Uzbek citizen has been sent to prison for joining Russian troops fighting in Ukraine's Donetsk region in 2014-15.
Former Uzbek lawmaker Rasul Kusherbaev wrote on Telegram on October 30 that police in Tashkent briefly detained more than 100 people after they gathered in the center of the Uzbek capital a day earlier to express support for Palestinians in the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
Uzbek authorities have closed at least 10 restaurants that don't serve alcohol and advertise themselves as having "halal food." The restaurant owners say that security officials told them if they agree to sell alcoholic drinks, their businesses will reopen.
Imprisoned Uzbek investigative journalist and blogger Abduqodir Mominov was placed in solitary confinement for 10 days in a Tashkent detention center on October 9, his mother told RFE/RL.
Load more
