A Man Sentenced to Three Years in Prison for a “Like” on Extremist Material In Surkhandarya Region

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — In Surkhandarya region, a citizen has been sentenced to three years of imprisonment for having “liked” a prohibited post on a social network six years ago, according to the official Telegram channel of the regional courts.

According to the investigation, in 2019, U.A. clicked “like” under a lecture by Abdugani Umarov (Abdulloh domla) titled “Lovers of Paradise” on the platform Odnoklassniki.ru. The lecture was deemed to contain extremist ideas, and the actions of the defendant contributed to the spread of the material among his virtual contacts.

The court classified the act as a crime under paragraph “g” of part 3 of Article 244‑1 of the Criminal Code, which provides liability for the production, storage, distribution, or demonstration of materials that threaten public safety, using mass media, telecommunications networks, and the internet.

The Kumkurgan District Criminal Court, which reviewed the case on July 1, found U.A. guilty. Taking into account Article 57 of the Criminal Code, which allows for a more lenient sentence, he was sentenced to three years of imprisonment to be served in a general-regime colony.

Earlier, an updated list of materials containing extremist and terrorist ideas was published. According to the Law “On Countering Extremism” dated July 30, 2018, the import, production, storage, distribution, and demonstration of such materials, their symbols and paraphernalia, as well as their display through mass media, telecommunications networks, and the internet, is prohibited in Uzbekistan.