MPs to consider issues of arresting those who post images of law enforcement officials on Internet with malicious intent 

On May 31, the Legislative Chamber of Oliy Majlis did not consider the draft law “On amendments and additions to the Criminal Code, the Criminal Procedural Code and the Administrative Responsibility Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan in connection with the improvement of road safety”. 

At the beginning of the plenary session, which was resumed after the criticism, Speaker Nurdinjon Ismailov said that the issue would be considered later in the plenary session.

“The bill is now in the hands of the Legislative Chamber. The committee is working to include the law in the first reading. We still have a deadline, of course, when this bill will enter the first reading and lead to discussion. We are not in a hurry yet and have asked the MIA through the Cabinet of Ministers for more information. This issue was considered in the factions. 

We should definitely see this law once more information is brought. This is a very actual law, there are many gaps in our legislation in the field of road safety. If necessary, there are contradictions, we must admit. There is a need to solve many problems legally.

We will definitely have to increase penalties for some types of offenses, and we will have to liberalize some. There are a number of norms aimed at the effectiveness of prevention of more serious accidents: the authorities are entrusted with powers, tasks and responsibilities.

Of course, we have time to include this law in the first reading. We ask the committee to take into account the views of deputies and the views at places, and this should be included in our meeting in the coming days,” Nurdinjon Ismailov said.

For information, one of the clauses in the bill states that posting on the Internet photos and videos taken by law enforcement officers while performing their official duties in order to discredit or insult them will result in a fine of 50 BCAs or 15 days of administrative detention.

Before the start of the plenary session, the Legislative Chamber publicized a post on the official Telegram channel of the press service that the bill was not included in the agenda and soon deleted it.

“Some social networks have reported that the bill was removed from the agenda of the plenary session by members of the faction. However, the bill was not included in the agenda of the chamber. It should be noted that the factions do not have the authority to raise the issue on the agenda of the chamber,” the deleted post said. 

Speaking to Kun.uz,   the press service of the Legislative Chamber confirmed that the bill was not included in the agenda, but did not explain why the above post was deleted.

Earlier, Kun.uz reported that the bill was discussed in parliamentary factions.

During the discussions, UzLiDeP, Adolat and the People’s Democratic Party opposed the bill at their faction meetings. They considered it contrary to the principles of openness.

According to Kun.uz,   the Milliy Tiklanish faction approved the bill conceptually and decided to submit it to the plenary session. Only the meeting of the Ecological Party did not reach a consensus on this issue: some members of the party supported the project, while others opposed it.

In March, the Interior Ministry attempted to apply the clause to road patrol officers, a draft government resolution worked out in this regard had caused serious public outcry.