Following a teenager's hit-and-run of a traffic police officer in a BMW M4 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan's Prosecutor General's Office investigated a controversial video interview with Asadbek Jumayev, head of Uzbelas Performance tuning studio. In the interview, Jumayev admitted his company serviced BMWs with special lights (one without license plates) and said he "got off with a small fine."

According to the Prosecutor General's Office, on January 16, the Mirzo Ulugbek District Court fined Jumayev (born 2003) 8.4 million soums under Article 195−2 of the Administrative Liability Code (disseminating images of law enforcement officers that demean their honor and dignity). On February 26, the district prosecutor's office filed a protest with the Tashkent City Court's criminal panel for an impartial legal assessment, potentially leading to a review of the penalty.

Jumayev stated in the interview that he has "many influential friends" and quoted a proverb: "It's better to have a hundred friends than a hundred sums." He also remarked that youth are better off obsessed with cars than drugs.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs called the video "PR content created for self-promotion on social networks." Jumayev acknowledged it showed "disobedience and, one might say, mockery" but denied it was propaganda. He apologized to the traffic police officer.

Source: www.gazeta.uz