️ On May 13, a criminal court in Kagan, Bukhara region, sentenced 34-year-old citizen M.B. for participating in the Russia-Ukraine war on the Russian side. According to court documents, he had been working seasonally in Russia since 2022 and was detained by police in May 2024, after which he allegedly decided to join the Russian Armed Forces.

️ The court found that M.B. went to a military unit in Vladivostok and signed a one-year contract on May 20, 2024. He participated in combat operations in Vladivostok, Zaporizhzhia region, and the settlement of Novopol. On July 17, 2025, he injured his right index finger in an explosion of a detonator capsule while in Novopol.

️ In court, M.B. claimed he was coerced by Russian police. He stated that officers threatened him with 13 years in prison if he did not go to war and allegedly planted a narcotic substance in his car. He maintained the substance was not his.

️ M.B. admitted to self-inflicting the injury: “To leave the war, I made an explosive device from a detonator capsule and blew off my finger.” After treatment in military hospitals and the expiration of his contract, he returned to Russia and later traveled to Uzbekistan via Kazakhstan in October 2025.

️ The court found M.B. guilty under Article 154, Part 1 (Mercenarism) and Article 154-1, Part 1 (Entering the service of foreign military or law enforcement agencies) of the Criminal Code. Considering mitigating factors (full confession, remorse, being the sole breadwinner with a minor child), he was sentenced to 3 years and 6 months in a general-regime colony.

️ The sentence is to be counted from May 20, 2026. The preventive measure of a written undertaking was revoked, and M.B. was taken into custody in the courtroom.

Source: www.gazeta.uz