Real Sanjik court: New evidence presented from the US, court investigation resumed

"Real Sanjik" case: new evidence presented from the US, trial resumed

The trial against businessman Sanjar Karimov, known as "Real Sanjik", was resumed at the final stage of the appeal hearing at the Tashkent City Criminal Court and the proceedings were postponed indefinitely.

After negotiations at the hearing held on August 21, Sanjar Karimov was given the last word. Before the hearing, an audio recording of a conversation between Karimov and his lawyer with the victim Feruza Rahmatullayeva and her husband was presented to the jury as evidence. Due to the need to study this audio recording and the evidence presented to the court by the defendant's lawyers and give them a legal assessment, the jury issued a ruling to resume the trial on this part and postponed the hearing indefinitely.

Sanjar Karimov was given the last word. He asked the court not to find him guilty of selling or transporting drugs, and to consider the material evidence obtained during the search as inadmissible.

"Give me justice. Give me a fair sentence. Who did I intend to transfer it to? Is there any evidence, any person, any audio recording, any attempt or action? I solemnly declare once again: I have never in my life been involved in the transfer or sale of drugs, I am not involved in it, and I never had such an intention," said Sanjar Karimov.

"During the search of my house, my constitutional rights were grossly violated. The emergency workers broke the lock and searched three apartments without any written permission from the court. I have only one request: give me a fair, just sentence," he said.

The defendant asked that the fact that he had no prior convictions and that there were no aggravating circumstances be taken into account when determining the sentence.

"I have been asking God for a fair sentence, well-being and leniency for nine months. If you give me house arrest, I pray that I will not be lacking in either world. My greatest dream is to go to my child, to see him. If this is not possible, apply Article 72 (Suspended Sentence) and Article 57 (Lesser Sentence) to me. Because I have no aggravating circumstances," said "Real Sanjik".

He also asked the court to take into account the fact that he had no prior convictions and his family situation.

"My mother is 67 years old, sick, just got out of surgery. My son is one and a half years old, still small. I dream of going to my child every day, seeing him. I am an entrepreneur. I had 1,150 employees, now there are 830 left. Chairman, you are now deciding not only my fate, but also the "black pot" of other people. Take this into account," said Sanjar Karimov.

Tursunali Akbarov explained that during the judicial investigation, the relevance of the evidence presented to the case will be clarified.

"The court investigation was completed, the negotiations were also over, and in the end the defendant had the last word. During this process, the defendant and his lawyers presented certain evidence, citing arguments that, from their point of view, could be significant in the case. The relevance, importance, and legal force of the evidence presented by the lawyers and the defendant to the case will be considered during the court investigation, and a legal assessment will be made at the end," said Akbarov.

Feruza Rahmatullayeva, who said that the investigative processes need to be re-conducted, noted that there are also evidence and audio recordings in it.

"I am participating in Sanjar Karimov's trial as a victim under Article 112 of the Criminal Code (threat of murder or violence). Now they brought an audio recording to the court. Why did they give it at the end? After my son's sentence was read, Sanjar Karimov called me and said, "Why don't you appeal? Go ahead, I'll get a lawyer myself." I told him, "I need to think about it," and he said, "We can't meet," and his two lawyers called me to his office. When I went to the office, I didn't know that Sanjar Karimov was there. He was hiding, so they came out of one room and took my bags. But I have all the audio recordings and evidence recorded before and after that. I will present everything to the court," the victim said.

According to him, everything must be re-investigated, the process must be fair.

"My son was imprisoned for nine years for nothing. We have filed an appeal and an audit in his case. We are now waiting for the Supreme Court's decision," said Feruza Rahmatullayeva.

Oybek Ashurov explained why the audio recording was not presented to the court earlier. He said that since the recording was stored on Sanjar Karimov's mobile phone in the United States, there were difficulties in bringing it to Uzbekistan.

"True, the question may arise: "Why was this evidence not presented at that time?" The reason for this is that Sanjar Karimov's mobile phone was in the United States and there were some difficulties in bringing it here. That is why we presented the audio recordings to the court late. Any evidence presented to the court session must be discussed during the court investigation. It cannot be included in the criminal case without being discussed," the lawyer said.

The lawyer stated that the audio recording was recorded the day before Feruza Rahmatullayeva filed a complaint under Article 112 of the Criminal Code against Sanjar Karimov, which was the basis for the initiation of a criminal case against her.

"During this process, Feruza Rahmatullayeva spoke with Sanjar Karimov without any pressure, fear or other feelings. They discussed the sentence imposed on her son. Feruza Rahmatullayeva asked Sanjar Karimov for help in attracting additional lawyers to help her son in the case," he said.

According to Ashurov, after the conversation, Feruza Rahmatullayeva said that she was being summoned to the internal affairs bodies. The woman filed a complaint that Sanjar Karimov had threatened to kill her and use violence against her. The lawyer stated that he considers this information unfounded and false.

"After that, the internal affairs bodies opened a criminal case against Sanjar Karimov under Article 112 of the Criminal Code," the lawyer said.

He said that on that day, Sanjar Karimov was detained under Article 221 of the Criminal Procedure Code. Later, an unfounded search was conducted at his place of residence.

"One more thing should be noted: we believe that there is no basis for conducting a search of the person's home in connection with the criminal case initiated under Article 112 of the Criminal Code. Because the evidence collected in the case consists mainly of one audio recording, nothing else. If Sanjar Karimov had committed this crime using a weapon, tool or other object, there would have been a need to conduct a search of his home. But in this case, there is no such basis," Ashurov said.

"We can see from these processes that we have a preliminary legal conclusion that both the circumstances of the criminal case against Sanjar Karimov and all the investigative actions taken against him were organized," added Oybek Ashurov.

We would like to remind you that on May 8, the Mirzo Ulugbek District Criminal Court concluded the trial of the criminal case against Sarvar Karimov. On that day, Karimov was sentenced to 5 years in prison. The court found him guilty of crimes related to fraud, threats to kill or use violence, and possession of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.