New excellent arrests in the shadow of Uzbek power

Two high-ranking security officials in prison, dozens of other personalities forced to resign. Accused of opaque relations with businessmen and mafia clans. One of them was known for torturing a blogger critical of President Mirziyoyev.

Tashkent (AsiaNews) - Two high-ranking officials were arrested in Uzbekistan, the first deputy director of the Guvd services of the city of Tashkent, Doniyor Taškhodžaev, and the former head of the president's security administration, Šukrat Rasulov. In addition, dozens of other figures were detained or forced to resign. They are accused of very serious offences linked to other sensational cases, such as that of the well-known blogger Abdukodir Muminov, 34, one of the most open critics of President Šavkat Mirziyoyev's policies.

Muminov's YouTube channel, entitled Ko'zgu, had 247,000 followers, and was dedicated to anti-presidential polemics. On 23 December 2022, the blogger was attacked by unknown men, who beat him to death. Two months later he was arrested on charges of fraud and embezzlement, receiving a seven-year prison sentence in August 2023. His colleagues and supporters, such as the other blogger Asliddin Kamol, had linked the assault and arrest to his journalistic investigations, which focused on the rather shady dealings of the president's relatives. Abdukodir's mother, Sabokhat Abdullaeva, said that in prison they tried to force her son to sign pre-prepared confessions, but he refused.

According to Abdullaeva's account, one of the main investigators pressurising Muminov was Doniyor Taškhodžaev, who forced him to crawl on the floor by kicking him in the ribs. As a result of the torture he lost consciousness several times, but was revived and subjected to further violence. Now Taškhodžaev is accused of covering up the misdeeds of a businessman, Džavlon Junusov, who is considered by the investigators to be responsible for the assassination attempt on former presidential administration collaborator Komil Allamžonov on 26 October in the Tashkent region.

Junusov allegedly obtained through bribery and violence the property of several businessmen in the Uzbek capital, and Taškhodžaev allegedly covered up his crimes, ending up being arrested on 3 December, according to local media sources, a week after resigning from his post. He had held several high-level offices during his career, thanks to his good relations with Otabek Umarov, President Mirziyoyev's younger brother-in-law. He himself led the recent operation against street gangs, called ‘The 40 Days of Redemption’, putting one of the leaders of the local underworld, Salim Abduvaliev, behind bars.

It seems that the actions taken by Tashkhodžaev were aimed at favouring another criminal organisation, that of Ravšan Mukhiddinov, known as ‘Ravšan the Golden Man’, the nephew of one of the historical heads of the Tashkent mafia, Gafur Rakhimov, who had prospered under the regime of the first president of Uzbekistan, Islam Karimov, and then spent periods of ‘facilitated residence’ in prisons in Dubai and Istanbul. With Mirziyoyev's arrival in power, the ‘golden one’ had returned to his homeland, cleared of all charges.

Another excellent arrest in recent days was that of Šukrat Rasulov, considered to be Umarov's ‘right-hand man’ and the practical organiser of the attack on Allamžonov. What is the fate of those arrested, and of all those forced to leave their posts, is the subject of media enquiries, given the absence of official statements. From the few documents that have reached the press, it is known that there is a ‘plan of decisive actions’ that contains information about mutual threats by officials of various branches of the Uzbekistan secret services and security forces, which are being poured on journalists and leaks, awaiting a conclusion to the ‘war of mafias’ in the various palaces of power in Tashkent.