The governor who spoke out about the people's grievances, foreign exchange purchases, and changes in the judicial system - weekly digest

**Weekly Digest: The Governor's Hearing of the People's Grievances, Foreign Exchange Purchases, and News in the Judicial System**

**Law on the Presidential Administration**

One of the most important laws in the field of public administration in recent years has been adopted in Uzbekistan - the constitutional law "On the Presidential Administration". This law was published on August 14 and entered into force on that day. It clearly defines the status, tasks, and powers of the Administration.

According to the law, the Presidential Administration ensures the activities of the head of state in organizational, legal, and analytical terms. It also controls the implementation of the president's decisions and instructions, coordinates the activities of structures authorized to use force, develops proposals on the main directions of domestic and foreign policy, conducts personnel policy, and performs many other tasks.

The orders and instructions of the head of the administration are mandatory for all state bodies, enterprises, organizations, and officials. The orders of the Head of the Administration take precedence over the decisions of the Cabinet of Ministers in the system of regulatory legal acts. The Head of the Administration provides the President with analytical information on important issues, plays an important role in making decisions on personnel, and at the same time, as the Deputy Chairman of the Security Council under the President, participates in conducting state security policy.

According to the law, Administration officials, along with their family members, have high-level material and social security, security, inviolability and immunity guarantees. Administration officials are not allowed to be held criminally liable, questioned or investigated. Such immunity is preserved for Administration officials for life. A number of guarantees are also established for second-level officials - administrative employees.

Interestingly, the right to inviolability, which is preserved even after leaving office, that is, for life, was not granted to one of the most prominent officials in the Administration, Ruslanbek Davletov. Because he was dismissed the day before the signing of this law. Davletov, who was the Minister of Justice in 2017-2022, has been working as an advisor to the President in the Administration for four years. In different years, he has been advising the head of state on socio-political, religious and youth issues, as well as representative bodies and non-governmental non-profit organizations.

In his place, Olim Davlatov, a Navoi scholar and Doctor of Philosophy in Philology, was appointed Advisor to the President of Uzbekistan on Representative Bodies, Non-Governmental Non-Profit Organizations and Youth Issues. For the past four years, he has been working as the Director of the Institute of Socio-Spiritual Research under the Republican Center for Spirituality and Enlightenment. Olim Davlatov defended his PhD dissertation on the topic “Artistic Interpretation of Quranic Verses and Hadiths in the Poetry of Alisher Navoi”.

**Artificial intelligence-generated “showcase photos”**

On the eve of Independence Day, work continues to make neighborhoods across the republic more prosperous and beautiful. In this process, the situation in Navoi city has attracted the attention of many. The fact is that the city administration published on its Telegram channel about the work done in the Hayot neighborhood, which attracted people's attention by using artificial intelligence. The photos show that the walls of courtyard houses with facades that had moved have been painted, and in some places even green grass has supposedly sprouted quickly.

Soon after, the Navoi city administration admitted that the published photos were the product of artificial intelligence, apologized to the public, and announced that those responsible for “negligence” had been warned. According to the hokimiyat, artificial intelligence was used to present the changes in the mahalla in a “demonstrative and higher-quality format,” but the photos were published “without verification.” At the same time, real, unprocessed photos were also presented to show that practical work was actually done in the Hayot mahalla.

Unlike the Navoi city khokimiyat, no other leader apologized for his inappropriate actions within the framework of the “40 Days of Urgent Action.” In particular, the khokimiyat of the Shahrisabz district, who entered a woman’s house, humiliated her honor and dignity, and violated her privacy, did not respond. The khokimiyat of the Chinaz district, known for his banners “Shameful mahalla” and “Shameful apartment,” said he was ready to apologize if he was at fault.

Sherzod Salihov said that the initiative to hang posters with the inscriptions "Shameful Neighborhood" and "Shameful House" in neighborhoods and apartments came from him, no one gave him such an order. "This is my initiative. At the end of the meeting, I said that if you do not fulfill the stated tasks, this is what will be done. But this was not implemented anywhere. The banner "Shameful Neighborhood" was hung and immediately taken down. It was only filmed to post on social media. But I did not hang it on a single apartment, a single neighborhood. We showed that this would happen and then took it back," the Chinoz khokim said in his explanation to Daryo.

He said that those who interpret this situation differently "will understand the situation if they work as khokims one day." “Everyone interprets this differently. But those who interpret it will understand the situation if they become khokims one day and work with the people. We did not enter someone's house under pressure, but explained and propagated. If they accept this as a form of propaganda, I think that will be the correct interpretation. Maybe I was a little rude somewhere. God is innocent. If we are at fault, we apologize,” said Salihov.

It is not surprising that when the khokim of Chinaz district said “we did not enter someone's house under pressure,” he was referring to his colleague in Shahrisabz, Samad Hasanov. We recall that the Anti-Corruption Agency filed a complaint with the khokim of Kashkadarya region regarding Hasanov's actions.

**“There are no conditions at all on the railway” – Ulugbek Kasimov**

Our roads are so shabby in some places that people are shouting. If you want to travel by train, you can’t find a ticket without an acquaintance, and even if you do, you can’t breathe in the carriage – you’ll get sick before you reach your destination. If you want to travel by plane, it’s a complete disgrace – the price of air tickets has doubled. Organizations such as the Transport Prosecutor’s Office and the Competition Committee are spectators.

These are not our words, these are criticisms of the governor of Surkhandarya region Ulugbek Kasimov. During his visit to the Zharkurgan district, he delivered a rather unusual and critical speech for a khokim, knocking the heads of transport officials:

“Everyone knows the M-39 road that connects the residents of Surkhandarya with Tashkent. After crossing the bridge, you can’t walk. Our taxi drivers and bus drivers are shouting at us. We can’t even look at their faces.

There are absolutely no conditions on the railway. People who get on the train get sick before they get to Tashkent. The cooling system doesn’t work, there are no conditions, there are no tickets, and there are no conditions at the station... It’s impossible to transport people on trains from Termez to Sariosiyo. The transport prosecutor is a spectator. Oh, my brother, an official earns his reputation with hard work. There are absolutely no conditions. What kind of people do you transport on it? Where does the transport department look?

Air tickets are completely disgraceful: the price has doubled. What kind of monopoly is this? The organization is a spectator. No matter how poor a person is, you can't look at the ticket price. You can't find a ticket without acquaintances...

How many objections did our president make while walking along the railway? In a week, you will fully equip both suburban trains and trains to Tashkent. You must create conditions for people to ride, and whatever is required must be done. Let the monopoly fully analyze the ticket. How much money is the company charging people?

Thank goodness for our people, they are riding silently. Students, old people... You can't breathe inside it. Will the prosecutor come out to him, he doesn't have the heart, he doesn't have time... Where are the operatives looking? Does the railway have its own organization called "SES", where is it looking?"

The governor of Surkhandarya gave a week to improve conditions on trains, stations, and airports, and also ordered the regional department of the Competition Committee to address the problems related to “10-sum tickets being sold for 25 sums with artificial barriers, and people with acquaintances are buying tickets.” There was no official response from railway and aviation officials to his above criticisms.

**Punishment for victims of sexual harassment**

Two cases of sexual harassment that were heard in courts have recently attracted public attention. In both cases, 18-year-old girls were sexually harassed, but interestingly, the courts also held the girls who defended themselves accountable.

The first case occurred in the Saykhunabad district of the Syrdarya region. A 26-year-old man who works as a coach at a sports school met his 18-year-old former student in the alley and offered her sexual intercourse. The girl, angered by this, got into an argument with her teacher. The man pleaded guilty in court and was sentenced to 5 days in prison under the article "Indecent assault", and, interestingly, the victim was also charged with petty hooliganism for shouting in a public place and fined 1.2 million soums.

After the court's decision was criticized on social media, the case was reviewed on appeal, and the girl was found not to have committed any offense and the fine was canceled. According to the Syrdarya regional courts, a complaint was filed against the preventive inspector and the first-instance investigative judge who conducted the investigation into the case.

A second similar case was observed in the city of Namangan. There, a 66-year-old man grabbed an 18-year-old girl by the thigh on a bus and sexually assaulted her. The girl responded by touching the man. The Namangan City Court fined the man 824,000 soums and the girl 206,000 soums for hitting her in the groin. Later, the appeals court found that the girl had committed her act in self-defense and overturned the sentence. The sentence for the man who grabbed her thigh was replaced with a more severe one.

**What will change in the judicial system?**

A strategy for establishing a people-oriented and fair judicial system by 2030 has been adopted in Uzbekistan. The draft strategy was presented to the head of state by the new Chairperson of the Supreme Court, Robakhon Mahmudova, and the presidential decree signed on the same day approved the “Fair Justice – 2030” strategy.

According to it, in order to put an end to the practice of the same court reviewing its own decision and reduce the need for people to come to Tashkent in search of justice, five interregional courts will be established to review the decisions of regional courts. Civil courts, where people have the most cases, will also come closer to the people and will begin to operate in almost all districts and cities. In economic courts, the standard of “proactive management of economic cases” will be introduced to quickly resolve disputes, stop entrepreneurs from wandering from office to office and repeatedly submitting documents. It is also planned to expand the authority of investigative judges to refuse to sanction detention, maintain a “Register of Precedents” in order to ensure uniform judicial practice, and achieve at least 50% of appeals to courts in electronic form within the framework of the “Digital Court” concept. According to the expected procedure, if the received application concerns another court, the application will not be returned: in such a case, the court that received the application itself must direct it to the appropriate court.

In addition, in order to free judges from various organizational matters and create conditions for them to deal exclusively with justice, the institution of "court administration" in accordance with international standards will be introduced. Special service uniforms for court staff will also be put into practice. It is said that the introduction of service uniforms will allow easy recognition of court employees and will serve to increase their professional responsibility.

Shavkat Mirziyoyev: "The question of whether people agree with the court is looming"

**What else happened this week?**

**The procedure for giving a child a surname has been changed.** According to the changes introduced this week to the Family Code, from now on a child can also be given the father's name as a surname. Although such cases do occur in practice, this provision was not provided for in the code. According to the Family Code, until now, a child could be given the surname of his father or mother, or the surname of his grandfather on the paternal or maternal side. The new procedure allows fathers to give their own name as the surname of their child. The law also allows the activity of private archives.

**The procedure for purchasing cash currency from a bank has been liberalized.** Now, up to $500 in cash currency can be purchased from banks without a passport. Until August 9, this limit was $100. Also, if you want to withdraw more than $500 in cash currency or use other types of banking services, you no longer need to have an identity document with you: you can present an electronic version of your passport or ID card to a bank employee through the MyGov and Social Card applications. We would like to remind you that according to the government resolution, which came into force on May 22 of this year, internal affairs officers must also accept documents from the MyGov application, in particular, the electronic form of a driver's license, but the ministry has been delaying the implementation of this requirement in practice.

**8 Uzbeks were killed in a Ukrainian drone attack on Tatarstan.** In a night attack on the city of Nizhnekamsk, one of the drones hit a hostel in an industrial zone where construction workers lived. As a result, 13 people were killed, including 8 Uzbeks and one Tajik. The bodies of our deceased compatriots were brought home on a plane of the Ministry of Defense of Uzbekistan. The Ukrainian side did not comment on the attack on a civilian hostel and its consequences. According to political analysts interviewed by Kun.uz, official Kiev should express its condolences to the Uzbek side, apologize to the families of the deceased, and consider the issue of compensation.

**Interrelated outages occurred in the Central Asian energy system.** On the afternoon of August 14, a number of regions of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan experienced almost simultaneous power outages. The Uzbek Energy Ministry reported that the accident in the neighboring country affected the region's unified energy system and that the automatic anti-accident system was activated, but did not specify which country it was talking about. According to the Kazakh side, the regional blackout was associated with the failure of two generators at the Tokhtagul hydroelectric power station in Kyrgyzstan. Kyrgyz and Tajik officials said they were clarifying the causes of the problem.