Consulate General of the Republic of Uzbekistan in Dubai

In Uzbekistan, judicial and investigative activities are being improved, guarantees for the protection of individual rights and freedoms are being strengthened

The decree of the President of Uzbekistan «On measures to further strengthen the guarantees of the protection of the rights and freedoms of the individual in judicial and investigative activities» dated August 10 of this year defines clear principles for conducting judicial and investigative activities that meet international standards and advanced foreign experience.

This document was another important step in ensuring the rule of law and the implementation of the national development strategy in 2017-2021.

From now on, within the framework of judicial and investigative activities, special attention will be paid to ensuring unconditional observance of the rights and freedoms of the individual, improving the quality of procedural actions, revising the system for collecting, consolidating and evaluating evidence in criminal proceedings, taking into account the standards of evidence widely used in best foreign practice.

The activity of law enforcement agencies in solving crimes will be raised to a new level, it is planned to introduce effective mechanisms to prevent torture and ill-treatment, and responsibility for such acts will increase.

In addition, the sphere will be modernized by introducing information and communication technologies in the process of investigating criminal cases, and will continue to strengthen the material and technical base and human resources of law enforcement agencies.

Systemic measures will be taken to prevent crime, improve legal culture and develop a spirit of law-abiding among citizens.

From now on, the investigative process will also undergo significant changes, including in terms of calculating the terms of detention, the basis for detention, ensuring a meeting with a lawyer.

The institution of a plea agreement is also being introduced. Persons who have confessed can expect to be sentenced by the court to a punishment of half the size and / or the maximum term.

A procedure is being introduced for the preliminary confirmation by the court of the testimony of a witness and a victim with the participation of the parties at the stage of pre-trial proceedings in a criminal case.

The obligatory participation of a defense attorney is established in the consideration of cases in relation to persons suspected or accused of committing an especially grave crime.

Employees of the bodies of pre-investigation, inquiry and preliminary investigation are prohibited from persuading a person to commit unlawful actions and accusing him of a crime committed as a result of such persuasion.

It is forbidden to interrogate a suspect or accused as a witness, as well as to receive any written or oral evidence from him before clarifying his procedural rights, to interrogate close relatives of the detained suspect or accused in the absence of grounds for involving them as participants in the process.

Employees of the bodies of inquiry and preliminary investigation are prohibited from summoning or interrogating a defendant, victim, witness, civil plaintiff, civil defendant and other participants in the trial in the framework of a criminal case sent to the court for consideration on the merits.

The document also establishes a procedure providing for medical examination of a person detained during a pre-investigation check or investigation by employees of medical institutions outside the jurisdiction of temporary detention centers, pre-trial detention centers or institutions for the execution of punishment, with reimbursement of expenses.

It is not allowed to apply a preventive measure in the form of detention in relation to minors, disabled persons of the first and second groups and persons who have reached retirement age, in cases of intentional crimes for which punishment is imprisonment for a term of up to three years, as well as on crimes committed through negligence, for which punishment is imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years.

It is also stipulated that the transfer of a criminal case from one body of inquiry or preliminary investigation to another can be carried out exclusively by the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Uzbekistan and his deputies, prosecutors of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, regions and the city of Tashkent and prosecutors equated to them in cases provided for in the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan ...

All bodies conducting pre-investigation checks will be connected to the software module created in the Unified Information System `` Electronic Criminal Law Statistics '', which allows registering statements, messages and other information about crimes in electronic form and maintaining a single electronic record of the results of their consideration with full input of it in operation from January 1, 2021.