Is Gulnara Karimova released from prison?

Reports have circulated on social media claiming that Gulnara Karimova, the eldest daughter of Uzbekistan’s First President Islam Karimov, has been released from prison. In light of these claims, QALAMPIR.UZ reached out to officials for clarification.

Shohrukh Giyasov, the Press Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, stated that this matter concerns personal information, and therefore, he could not disclose any details about Gulnara Karimova.

Meanwhile, Aziz Obidov, the Press Secretary of the Supreme Court, denied the claims, asserting that the information was unfounded and untrue.

From the time of the court's verdict until early this year, Gulnara Karimova was held in Women's Colony No. 21 in the Zangiota district of the Tashkent region. According to information available to QALAMPIR.UZ, she was transferred in January 2025 to Residential Colony No. 42, also located in Zangiota district.

Karimova was sentenced to 10 years in prison by the Tashkent Regional Criminal Court on December 18, 2017. According to a statement by the Prosecutor General’s Office in 2017, a criminal case had been opened against her on October 24, 2013, for tax evasion related to the activities of several LLCs. During the investigation, it was revealed that Karimova directly aided the criminal activities of an organized group led by Sodiqov between 2001 and 2012, and by Madumarov from January to October 2013.

At the time, the Prosecutor's Office charged Gulnara Karimova under several articles of the Criminal Code of Uzbekistan, including:  
- Article 165 – Extortion  
- Article 167 – Embezzlement or misappropriation  
- Article 179 – Fraudulent entrepreneurship  
- Article 184 – Tax evasion  
- Article 227 – Seizure, destruction, damage, or concealment of documents, stamps, seals, or license plates.

Although Karimova was initially sentenced to 10 years in prison in December 2017, the court later replaced this with a 5-year restriction of liberty, citing humanitarian reasons and her willingness to return criminally obtained funds and compensate for the damage caused to the state.

At her request, the place of serving the sentence was determined to be her daughter Iman Karimova’s residence. However, a number of legal restrictions were imposed, including a ban on leaving the residence, using communication devices or the internet, and an obligation to compensate the damage.

Later, due to Karimova’s deliberate violation of the sentence conditions, the Probation Service under the Main Department of Punishment of the Ministry of Internal Affairs submitted a request to replace the unserved term with a prison sentence. As a result, she was transferred to a general regime penal colony — specifically, Women’s Colony No. 21 in Zangiota district.

According to the Supreme Court in 2020, the Tashkent City Criminal Court reviewed a separate case against Gulnara Karimova and her criminal organization. The court found her guilty of organizing a criminal group, extortion, embezzlement, money laundering, and other related crimes.

She was sentenced to 13 years and 4 months in prison, with the term calculated from August 21, 2015, in accordance with criminal legislation and taking into account the combination of sentences for multiple offenses.