The Uchtepa district criminal court sentenced a 15-year-old schoolboy to 3 years in prison for car theft in Tashkent, the Milliy TV channel reported.

The court considered the teenager's case at a mobile court hearing at the school. Reportedly, the car’s owner discovered it was missing and contacted the police. The car was found broken down. He stated that after compensation for the damage he has no claims against the young man.

“I had a fight with my uncle and left the house. I didn't want to return home. I made a mistake. This won’t happen again,” said the boy.

It turned out that the teenager had already stolen cars twice before.

The court found him guilty of committing a crime under Vehicle theft. The punishment was based in accordance with the Deprivation of liberty for minors of the Criminal Code. The student will serve his sentence in a prison colony.

According to the Uzbek judiciary practice he would be better off if he had hit and killed someone in that very car. 

Earlier in January a Tashkent driver who killed a pedestrian at crossing was handed 2-year imprisonment after settlement with victim's relatives.

Last year an Almalyk driver of Damas minivan, who ignoring red light, hit 2 teen girls, with one dying in the hospital, was sentenced to 6 years in prison and another man who stole cash from a donation box near a mosque was sentenced to 9 years in prison.

The Criminal Code of Uzbekistan is constructed on the Soviet-era principles, according to which the life of an individual and even the common sense were largely neglected, and the law was used as a protection of the regime and the legal order, and such crimes as harassing a government official, being a critical to the government were super crimes, while hitting and killing several people on a car being drunk or raping several minors for long years can take someone to prison for under 10 years. Another example, a teacher who has a monthly pay about 200 USD a month was sentenced to six years in prison for a 50 USD bribe, while a government official who embezzled around 300 hundred thousand USD just lost his job.

And even now anyone in Uzbekistan can be penalized for a major sentence for a largely vague criminal article which is "not abiding by lawful demands of a police officer", with no details given on what that "not abiding by" implies.