A military court in Uzbekistan sentenced a former head of Uzbekistan’s State Security Service (SGB) Ikhtiyor Abdullayev to 18 years in prison on September 27.  The sentence followed his conviction on charges of bribery, extortion and forming a criminal enterprise.

Another two-dozen people were in the dock alongside Abdullayev.  They included other officials from the State Security Service, the prosecutor’s office and the Supreme Court.

According to Ozodlik, former deputy SGB chief, Jahongir Igamov, got a jail term of 16 years.

Former advisor to SGB chief, Alisher Ishankhojayev, was sentenced to 17 years in prison.     

Former deputy Tashkent chief prosecutor, Yorkin Abdullayev, was sentenced to 14 years in prison. 

Former deputy head of the Justice Ministry Personnel Directorate, Yusufboy Khojayev, was sentenced to 8 years in prison.  

Ex-Deputy Prosecutor-General of Uzbekistan, Ghairat Hidoyatov, ex-Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Court of Uzbekistan, Bakhodir Dekhanov, and ex-prosecutor of Namangan oblast, Ulughbek Toshev, were sentenced to five years in prison each.  

The remaining fifteen defendants got various jail terms proceeding from the gravity and public danger of their acts as well their role in crimes committed, according to the military court’s press center.   

Ikhtiyor Abdullayev was relieved of his post of SGB chief on February 11 this year.  Prior to this he had filled multiple important positions since the early 2000s and served at times as an advisor to the late president, Islam Karimov, who died in 2016.  Between April 2015 and January 2018, he worked as General Prosecutor.