Two former officers of the criminal investigation unit at the Khavast district police department have been sentenced in Syrdarya province for extorting a bribe from a man, the Bu Kun program on Zo'r TV reported.
The director of a farming enterprise had turned to law enforcement over an illegal seizure involving his land plot. A preliminary inquiry found that another individual had caused the farmer roughly 30-40 million soums in damages.
However, two police investigators fabricated evidence and told the farmer that recovering the full amount of damages was unlikely, but that he had a chance of receiving 10-12 million soums. The farmer agreed to the proposal.
The officers then intimidated the suspect, telling him the damages totaled 50 million soums and that he would be jailed if he failed to pay. The man initially brought them 24 million soums.
The officers passed 12 million soums of that amount to the farmer and then demanded an additional 35 million soums to have the case reclassified as an administrative offense in court, sparing the suspect criminal liability.
The two men were detained during a sting operation as they received the remaining 11 million soums of the sum they had demanded.
At a hearing before the Saykhunabad District Criminal Court, the defendants pleaded guilty and expressed remorse.
The court sentenced one defendant, who cooperated with the investigation, to 5 years and 1 month in prison. The second defendant received a sentence of 6 years and 1 month.
The court also issued a special ruling addressed to the Syrdarya provincial police department, calling for measures to prevent similar cases in the future.
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