A court in the city of Kattakurgan, Samarkand region, has concluded the criminal case of 26-year-old citizen A.Kh., who fought on the Russian side in the Russia-Ukraine war. According to court documents reviewed by Gazeta.uz, A.Kh. traveled to the Russian city of Vladivostok in 2023 for work, but in November of that year was accused of drug trafficking and sentenced to 12 years in prison in March 2025.
According to the court document, A.Kh. served his sentence at Penal Colony No. 6 in Krasnoyarsk. While serving his term, he signed a military service contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense and on December 9, 2025, was accepted as a private rifleman in a military unit stationed in the Krasnoyarsk region. There he underwent training in first aid, grenade throwing, firearms training, and physical conditioning.
According to the defendant's testimony, officials from the Russian Ministry of Defense offered him a military contract, promising conditional release from his sentence and Russian citizenship in exchange for one year of military service. A.Kh. stated that he initially refused the offer, endured two months of torture without admitting guilt, but eventually, unable to withstand the abuse, signed the contract on December 9, 2025, in exchange for release and material benefit.
After signing the contract, A.Kh. and 20 other individuals of various nationalities were transported by military vehicle, traveled for a day to a military airfield, and were then flown to a training ground in Rostov-on-Don. After waiting three days in underground bunkers, they were taken into Ukrainian territory and deployed to a military unit. On the evening of December 17, drones attacked their position. A.Kh. lost consciousness and later found himself buried under concrete debris, having sustained injuries to his right leg and arm.
A.Kh. and two other wounded soldiers were taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital, then transferred to a military hospital in Rostov, and subsequently to a military hospital in St. Petersburg, where he was treated for nearly 2.5 months. During treatment, he devised an escape plan, left the hospital in late March, took a taxi to Moscow, and contacted the Uzbek embassy. On April 10, he received a return certificate to Uzbekistan and on April 13 flew from Moscow to Andijan, returning to his homeland.
The court found A.Kh. guilty under Part 1 of Article 154 (Mercenarism) and Part 1 of Article 154−1 (Entering service, recruitment into military service, security, police, military justice or other similar bodies of foreign states) of the Criminal Code. He was sentenced to 3 years imprisonment under Part 1 of Article 154 and 2 years of corrective labor under Part 1 of Article 154−1, with 20 percent of monthly wages deducted to the state. Through partial accumulation of sentences, a final sentence of 3 years and 1 month imprisonment was imposed, to be served in a general regime colony. The sentence term is calculated from September 11, 2026. The preventive measure was changed to detention, and A.Kh. was taken into custody in the courtroom.
Source: www.gazeta.uz