Tashkent city criminal court announced the ruling in the Doc-1 Max syrup case on February 26. As per the ruling, the former director of Quramax Medikal, Indian national Singh Raghvendra Prathar, registration manager at Quramax Nuriya Mirzaakhmedova, former director of the Agency for the Development of the Pharmaceutical Industry and the State Center for Expertise and Standardization of Medicines, Medical Products and Medical Equipment Sardor Kariev, his deputies Amirkhon Azimov and Nodirbek Musaev, the deputy head of the registration department of the center, Shoyusuf Shodmanov, and the chief specialist of this department, Jahongir Erkiniy, shall jointly and severally pay 75.6 billion soums, US$ 6 million to the families of children who died or were injured by Doc-1 Max and Ambronol cough syrups as compensation for moral damage:
- 1 billion soums each – to the families of the 68 dead children and 4 children with serious health conditions;
- 500 million soums each - to 4 affected children with satisfactory health;
- 200 million soums each - to 8 injured children who recovered.
This is much higher than what the prosecutor asked for. The state prosecutor previously asked the court to recover 100 million soums from the defendants to the each of relatives of 68 dead children and 16 children with serious health conditions (totalling8.4 billion soums), as well as 20 million soums for each of 2 children with minor injuries.
To recover financial damages, victims must go to civil court.
As reported earlier, the court sentenced the former chief of the Pharmaceutical Industry Development Agency Sardor Kariev to 18 years in prison in the Doc-1 Max syrup case, his deputies to 16 years, and the former director of Quramax, Indian citizen Singh Raghvendra Prathar - to 20 years in prison.
Note: Tashkent city criminal court had been considering the criminal case related to the death of at least 69 children from taking medications by the Indian pharmaceutical company Marion Biotech in Uzbekistan, including Doc-1 Max cough syrup since August 2023. There are 23 people involved in the trial (18 men and 5 women).
