Prosecutor demands 7-year term for Mubashshir Ahmad

Today, September 18, at the Uchtepa District Court of Criminal Cases in Tashkent city, another hearing was held in the case of religious scholar and blogger Mubashshir Ahmad (Alisher Tursunov), founder of the information-analytical portal Azon Global. At the hearing, the state prosecutor requested a 7-year prison sentence for Mubashshir Ahmad, Azon Global reported.

According to the publication, the prosecutor did not provide any justification for this request.

’’According to legal experts, such a request for punishment is baseless and unjust. In fact, during previous court hearings, the experts who gave conclusions on the case failed to prove their claims. The prosecutor, who directly witnessed this, requesting such a lengthy sentence raises concerns and casts doubt on the independence and fairness of the judiciary,’’ the report said.

It was noted that the next court hearing has been postponed to September 22 of this year.

A criminal case was initiated against Alisher Tursunov under Article 244-1 of the Criminal Code (production, storage, distribution, or display of materials threatening public security and public order) and Article 244-3 (illegal production, storage, import, or distribution of religious materials), and he was placed in pretrial detention. Tursunov’s previous court hearing was held on September 15.

It is worth noting that in May of this year, reports emerged that Alisher Tursunov had been taken from his home in the Bahcesehir district of Istanbul as a suspect. Later, information circulated on social networks that Tursunov had been extradited from Turkey to Uzbekistan. Subsequently, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Uzbekistan officially confirmed his extradition from Turkey to Uzbekistan.