The Supreme Council of Judges proposes to remove one article from the Criminal Code

The Supreme Judicial Council proposes to remove Article 231 (issuing an unjust verdict, decision, ruling or decision) from the Criminal Code. This was announced at a press conference held at the Supreme Judicial Council, according to a Daryo correspondent.

In accordance with the presidential decree of November 2025, the Supreme Judicial Council, the Supreme Court and the Prosecutor General's Office were tasked with submitting an analytical report on the revision of the legislative norms establishing liability for issuing an unjust verdict, decision, ruling or decision within three months, based on international standards on judicial independence.

Part one of Article 231 of the Criminal Code stipulates a penalty of restriction of liberty for a period of 2 to 5 years or imprisonment for a period of up to 5 years for knowingly issuing a judicial act contrary to justice. If serious consequences arise, imprisonment for a period of 5 to 10 years is prescribed.

At the conference, a Daryo correspondent asked about the proposal of the Supreme Judicial Council regarding Article 231 of the Criminal Code regarding the execution of the decree.

Deputy Chairman of the Council Nodira Bobokhonova replied that international experience has recommended two approaches to Article 231 of the Criminal Code.

The first approach is to completely remove Article 231 from the Criminal Code. The second recommendation is that if Article 231 remains (which is the case in many countries), then it should be based on clear criteria, that is, not to hold a judge liable for a judicial error and to determine the criteria for annulling or changing decisions. This article is currently being discussed. If the proposal to remove it is accepted, it will be completely removed from the code. If it remains, the signs of the composition of the crime will be included in its disposition, that is, its intentional commission, exclusion of liability for a miscarriage of justice, and other separate criteria will be developed that provide for the composition of this crime, and in this way the code can be supplemented or amended, said Nodira Bobokhonova.

Judge of the Supreme Judicial Council Khurshid Sodiqov added that the Council has made a proposal to remove this article from the Criminal Code.

“We proposed to remove this article. This article creates a lot of difficulties in qualifying the crime. Several criminal cases have been heard on this. There were a lot of problems in applying the article during the investigation. In subsequent instances, this article was changed or became invalid. It caused confusion in practice,” said Khurshid Sodiqov.

The council representative added that the international community had expressed its concern about this issue, which subsequently began to affect the ratings.