Reasons for arrest of school principal who argued with regional governor in Surkhandarya announced

At the meeting held on July 26, Umida Tursunova, the director of school No. 28 in Sariosiyo district, who argued with the governor of Surkhandarya region, Ulugbek Kosimov, was found guilty under several articles of the Administrative Responsibility Code. 

According to the Supreme Court, by the decision of the Uzun district court on criminal cases dated July 26, 2023, Umida Tursunova (born in 1982 in the Surkhandarya region, works as the director of school No. 28 in the Sariosiyo district) was found to have committed offenses under Articles 183 (petty hooliganism) and 194-1 (failure to comply with the legal requirements of an employee of internal affairs bodies) of the Administrative Responsibility Code. She was sentenced to 10-day administrative imprisonment based on Article 34-2 of the Administrative Responsibility Code (applying administrative punishment for committing several offenses).

In accordance with the decision of the appellate body of the Surkhandarya regional court on criminal proceedings on July 28, 2023, the decision issued by the Uzun district court on criminal proceedings against Umida Tursunova on July 26, 2023 was left unchanged.

According to the ruling of the cassation instance of the Supreme Court's Criminal Trial Panel on August 1, 2023, the decisions of the first and appellate courts against Umida Tursunova were changed, and she was sentenced to 7-day administrative imprisonment.

The video of the incident that took place on July 26 at the school No. 12 in Sariosiyo district was disseminated on the Internet on August 3. In the video, after the regional governor told Umida Tursunova that she was removed from her post, the director asked: "What is my fault?", the regional governor replied: "Because you couldn't cope with your tasks, you shamed the whole world".

“How do you know what happened here? You say: “You have spoiled the environment”, what kind of environment has been spoiled here? They are selling the school property... There is no one to study the situation, they all speak the same language,” Umida Tursunova said.

During the dispute, the former director told the governor that if he had a gun, he would shoot him, that the situation in the school was being organized, and the regional governor was being given wrong information.

“Correct information should be provided to the regional governor. I was fired. What am I doing? You did whatever you wanted at school, nobody bothered?! Will I be punished? Why do I go out? I will stand here and listen until the end, and then I have something to say to the President. If he shoots me, let him take me to the people of Uzbekistan and shoot,” she said at the end of the argument.

After that, the former director was taken out of the meeting hall by employees of the internal affairs body. While leaving the assembly hall, Umida Tursunova said to regional governor Ulugbek Kosimov: “Shame on the regional governor like you”.

After this video spread widely on the Internet, it was reported that the Minister of Preschool and School Education Hilola Umarova took control of the situation with the school director. She said that the school principal was released from prison at the same time.