The sentence of local officials for raping three minors at a family orphanage in the city of Urgench, Khorezm region, will be reviewed by the Supreme Court of Uzbekistan, presidential press secretary Saida Mirziyoyeva said on April 2 on her Telegram.
“The tragedy that occurred in Khorezm caused heated discussions in society,” Mirziyoeva explained.
The spokeswoman pointed out that the sentences given to the rapists were too lenient, indicating that “serious problems in the legislation and the fact that unscrupulous people take advantage of existing loopholes“.
According to a presidential spokesman, Uzbekistan’s children’s rights commissioner, Aliya Yunusova, has called for tougher penalties for pedophiles. Furthermore, after the verdict was handed down, the Dushanbe mayor’s office called on the Republic Prosecutor General’s Office to conduct an audit of this high-profile case. The Attorney General’s Office assured that they had already filed a protest against the overly lenient punishment in the country’s Supreme Court of Justice.
Let us remember that in December 2022, the court handed down a sentence in the case of rape of three underage students from an orphanage aged 15, 16 and 17. The court found the director of the orphanage guilty, who for ten months forced the girls to provide sexual services and received 5 years and 6 months in prison.
In addition, the head of the justice department of the Khorezm region and the head of the emergency situations department of the Yangiaryk district were convicted of violence against adolescents, with whom the head organized pimping. The rapists received 1.5 years in prison and have already been released from prison.
At the same time, the case gained public outrage only after a meeting of the relevant Senate committee and a series of media publications.
Source: Rossa Primavera
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