“We wanted to buy a house and a car.” In Fergana, a married couple who tried to sell their son, who was just over a year old, has been imprisoned

“We wanted to buy a house and a car.” A married couple who tried to sell their one-year-old son in Fergana has been imprisoned

In the Toshloq district of the Fergana region, a court verdict has been handed down to parents who attempted to sell their 1.5-year-old son for 35,000 USD.

It was revealed that the couple married in 2012 and have three minor children. The youngest son, whom they attempted to sell, was born in 2024. The man went to Russia to work in 2017, returned in 2022, and worked as a craftsman in the Tashkent region, but was unable to send enough money to his family.

In 2025, the woman approached the mahalla chairman for assistance in obtaining a loan for household needs. According to the woman's testimony in court, the chairman told her to give her youngest child to a childless family, and in return, they would be provided with house repairs and a car. The chairman denied these statements in court, claiming he had discouraged the woman from such an idea.

In early April 2026, the man returned home from Tashkent in debt. Around those days, an unknown person called the woman and asked to give the 1.5-year-old son to a family that had not had children for 10 years. The man initially suggested giving the child to his childless younger brother, but later agreed to sell him for money due to his debts.

During the conversations, the couple agreed to give the child for 35,000 dollars and said they would hand him over with a written receipt. Following this, the buyer, who had recorded the conversations, approached law enforcement agencies on April 11.

On that day, the conditional buyer and the couple with the child went to the mahalla building in the district. They were detained during an operational event while the woman was writing the receipt and her husband was receiving the 35,000 dollars.

At the end of the event, the woman said they had also agreed on how to spend the 35,000 dollars.

“We agreed to buy an apartment in a multi-story building with 25,000 dollars of this money to live in, and my husband would buy a car with 10,000 dollars. Because our conditions were difficult, we found no other way but to sell our child,” said the child's mother.

This circumstance was evaluated by the court as one of the pieces of evidence collected in the case.

According to the verdict of the Sokh District Criminal Court, the man was found guilty under Article 135, Part 3, Clause “b” (human trafficking) of the Criminal Code and, with the application of Article 57 of the Criminal Code, was sentenced to 6 years of deprivation of liberty. The woman was also sentenced to 5 years of deprivation of liberty under the same article.

The couple is ordered to serve their sentences in general regime colonies. Their three minor children have been placed under the care of a relative.