President signs law on introduction of changes to legislative acts

Legislative Chamber of Oliy Majlis of Uzbekistan passed the law on 17 March and Senate approved its on 28 March 2017. The law will come into force on 1 April 2017.

The law is directed at further democratizing and liberalizing judicial, law enforcement and controlling bodies, as well as improving trust of population to rule of law.

The law abolishes arrest as criminal punishment and introduces mandatory public works to system of criminal punishment.

It also decreases detention time for suspected in criminal activities from 72 to 48 hours, while maximum term for applying preventive measures in the form of custody or hme arrest, as well as preliminary investigation – from 12 to 7 months.

The law also hands over right to issue suctions for arrest from prosecutors to courts and exhumation of the body.

The document fully abolished institute of returning of criminal case for additional investigation by the courts.

The law decreases the term of review of judicial decisions on civil cases in order of supervision from 3 years to 1 year.