Blogger Olimjon Haydarov is arrested on charges of extortion

Today, July 29, blogger Olimjon Haydarov was arrested by law enforcement agencies in the Fergana region. This was reported by the Information Service of the DIA of Fergana region.

It is alleged that on June 12 of this year, Haydarov gained the trust of businessmen engaged in informal trade activities in the "Kokan Istiqlol" shopping complex. By creating a feeling of discontent among them, he posted negative articles on the reconstruction works in the shopping complex on his social network channels.

Furthermore, the blogger attempted to extort financial funds from the officials of the “Qoqon Istiqlol" shopping complex LLC. He published the article titled "Is Kokan under legal democratic governance or Shariah governance?" and demanded 10,000 US dollars in exchange for not distributing the article with negative content on the Internet. He managed to obtain a total of 7,500 US dollars through extortion and was caught by the participants of the quick event while receiving an additional 2,500 US dollars.

At present, the DIA of Kokan city is conducting investigative efforts in connection with this situation.