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A 38-year-old resident of Uzbekistan, identified as S. Kh., has been sentenced to three years in prison for serving in the armed forces of a foreign state. The ruling was reported by UzNews.uz, citing the court verdict.
The sentence was handed down by the criminal court of Buston District in the Andijan Region. S. Kh. was found guilty under Part 1 of Article 154 (“Mercenarism”) of Uzbekistan’s Criminal Code.
According to the case materials, in April of this year S. Kh. traveled to Russia in search of work. Two months later, he was detained by police for lacking proper documents. The defendant told the court that while at the police station he was offered papers to sign, the contents of which he did not understand. It later emerged that the documents constituted a military service contract providing for participation in Russia’s so-called special military operation in Ukraine.
After signing the contract, the Andijan native was sent to Donetsk, where he was assigned to unload food supplies for Russian servicemen. He was later transferred to Luhansk.
On one autumn day, S. Kh. attempted to disassemble the upper part of a combat grenade, which detonated. He lost his little finger and sustained a wrist injury. He was hospitalized, but subsequently fled the hospital and returned to Uzbekistan. It is noted that during his time serving in the Russian army he received payments totaling 800,000 rubles.
Fergana has repeatedly reported on criminal cases in Uzbekistan brought under the article on mercenarism. Some defendants have received prison sentences, while others were given non-custodial restrictions on their freedom. In November of this year, Uzbekistan’s State Security Service reported that since 2022 the country has opened 338 criminal cases related to citizens’ participation in armed conflicts abroad.
