For the second time within the span of a yr a brutal little one abuse case has sparked heated public dialogue in Uzbekistan. Reportedly, a five-year-old lady was repeatedly raped in a public kindergarten by a amenities supervisor who labored on the college within the Uchkurgan district of Namangan. In accordance with the mom of the survivor, the alleged perpetrator is their neighbor and she or he turned suspicious after she noticed him smiling at her five-year-old daughter. She gently requested the lady questions solely to search out out that the amenities supervisor would purchase sweets for the lady, inform her he beloved her, and promised to purchase extra presents and sweets if she didn’t expose him. The mom suspects the person had threatened her daughter.
Final yr an identical case, which additionally occurred in Namangan, the place a beforehand imprisoned convict raped a seven-year-old lady, prompted a wave of calls for by the general public to revive the dying penalty for severe crimes such because the sexual assault of minors. Public discussions over the dying penalty usually emerge in Uzbekistan after information of an particularly brutal crime in opposition to kids breaks. An earlier wave of loud discussions passed off in 2024 after a three-year-old was stabbed 12 instances.
What’s new this time is that high-ranking political figures are getting concerned.
Saida Mirziyoyeva, the pinnacle of the presidential administration and a deputy chair of the Safety Council (and likewise the president’s daughter) chimed in. “For my part, the dying penalty needs to be used for such heinous crimes. Sadly, the present laws doesn’t present for the dying penalty,” she wrote on her Telegram channel on September 27.
“We’re getting ready a proposal to amend the laws to maximise legal responsibility for one of these crime,” she added.
Echoing Mirziyoyeva’s phrases, Alisher Qodirov, chief of the Milliy Tiklanish (Nationwide Revival) Democratic Occasion and deputy speaker of the Uzbek parliament, referred to as dying penalty a “necessity.” Qodirov is known for making nationalist, generally controversial statements.
“The continued existence of those that deliberately kill harmless folks, particularly little one murderers and pedophiles, is a motivation for additional crimes of this sort!” Qodirov wrote on his Telegram, reposting Mirziyoyeva’s earlier assertion.
This isn’t the primary time Qodirov has voiced his place on the dying penalty. Beforehand, in 2024, after information reviews a few three-year-old lady being murdered, Qodirov recommended “cleaning” society. “It’s illogical to make use of our taxes to assist a prison who’s turn into an animal, preserve him wholesome, feed him, after which await another person to die! Society must be cleansed of such folks!” he wrote.
Each Mirziyoyeva and Qodirov know that Uzbekistan abolished capital punishment in 2008 and acceded to the Second Optionally available Protocol to the ICCPR aimed toward abolition. Uzbekistan has no mechanism to reinstate the dying penalty and not using a a lot bigger authorized overhaul, and no such overhaul is presently underway.
In a moderately uncommon course of developments for Uzbekistan, the dialogue over the dying penalty divided the nation’s political events. As a brand new invoice to extend legal responsibility for violence in opposition to kids was launched to the Legislative Chamber on September 29, Qodirov introduced a impartial place on the proposed invoice and doubled down on his stance concerning the necessity to resurrect the dying penalty. Qodirov referred to Norwegian neo-Nazi and mass assassin Anders Behring Breivik, stating that he had complained “in regards to the lack of amenities for writing a e-book, and people circumstances have been subsequently offered for him.”
Qodirov’s interpretation isn’t fairly correct. Whereas Breivik did complain in regards to the “stab-resistant” pen he was made to jot down with and was reportedly supplied with an digital typewriter, Breivik’s communications proceed to be censored by jail authorities and he has not revealed a e-book.
However, utilizing Breivik as some extent of reference, Qodirov questioned the compatibility of Uzbek values and worldwide regulation.
“Whose footsteps are we following!?” he requested. “We will even be compelled to create circumstances for our pedophile if he asks, as a result of the worldwide regulation we observe sees him as a human being, not as a useless individual.”
Bobur Bekmurodov, a member of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis and chief of the Yuksalish motion, opposed Qodirov’s statements overtly. His arguments are clear: the structure prohibits the dying penalty, bringing the dying penalty again might put little one victims in better hazard, break Uzbekistan’s worldwide obligations and lift the opportunity of errors in judicial practices.
“If little one rape is punishable by dying, there may be nothing to cease the perpetrator from destroying the one witness, the kid himself,” wrote Bekmurodov.
Whereas the grief over the case is real, the talk over the dying penalty is a populist, opportunistic response. In a rustic the place no different vital questions are debated by excessive (or low) profile politicians, kids and girls’s abuse is a risk-free matter. Not solely does it entice empathy from hundreds of thousands of residents, nevertheless it additionally positive factors reward from worldwide organizations. Siding with an harmless little one is all the time a successful transfer.
As outrage grows, officers do their greatest to appease the general public. The investigation over the case is now underneath the prosecutor normal’s management. Shakhnoza Mirziyoyeva, one other daughter of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and the primary deputy director of the Nationwide Company for Social Safety, reported that her company can also be concerned within the case and the survivor’s household will probably be moved to a different metropolis and supplied with housing. The company additionally recommended altering the lady’s surname to make sure her privateness as she rehabilitates. The Ministry of Preschool and Faculty Schooling fashioned a working group to handle the state of affairs.
Proper now, all consideration is being given to maximizing punishment for one perpetrator and never letting one other incident occur. What’s not noted of those debates is the failure of the methods that ought to have protected this lady. The mom of the survivor informed native media that the cameras within the kindergarten didn’t report something that day. And extra absurdly, she had been informed that the perpetrator was answerable for the cameras. The perpetrator’s spouse allegedly provided her a bribe to shut the case, too.
The employees of the kindergarten who’re supposed to guard the youngsters of their care, are hiding behind paperwork as an alternative of displaying compassion. The director of the kindergarten stated she was on a vacation when the alleged incident occurred and she or he had already offered explanatory letters to the police. She additionally added that kids are by no means left unsupervised. The lady’s instructor additionally swore the lady was by no means left alone – “Not an hour, not a minute, would [she] be left unattended.”
Native media retailers and the authorities haven’t disclosed the perpetrator’s identify or launched a mugshot. Netizens, nevertheless, have discovered his pictures and full identify and doxed his identification on social media pages.
Yesterday, Shakhnoza Mirziyoyeva famous that her company, along with different related our bodies, had been engaged on a draft regulation that may introduce life imprisonment for crimes involving little one sexual abuse.
“We additionally suggest to strengthen the accountability of oldsters for neglecting kids and of educators for permitting violence and discrimination, and to offer authorized help and safety to little one victims at each stage of the investigation and trial,” the company’s Telegram submit said.
From 2022 to 2026 445 instances of rape involving minors underneath 14 years previous have been formally registered in Uzbekistan. Not all instances make headlines. Journalist and economist Bakhodir Abdullayev famous that the laws on lifetime imprisonment for sexual abuse of minors was purported to be handed by April 2026. However it wasn’t till the present furor, when it turned politically expedient to take motion, that the legislature really moved.
The Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis handed the invoice on September 29.