A man from Uzbekistan who was recruited into the Russian army was sentenced. According to the court verdict, Sh.J., 56, a native of in Bulungur district of Samarkand province. In August 2023, he was recruited into the ranks of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

From August 28 to October 11, 2023, he took part in military operations against the Ukrainian state in Donetsk and Luhansk provinces.

Sh.J. received a "pass" from the embassy of this country in Tashkent to obtain Russian citizenship. He mentioned this in his testimony in court.

"Since 2005, in order to earn income, I have been working as an electrician in construction and repair work in the cities of St. Petersburg and Moscow of the Russian Federation. During this period, I had many difficulties in completing the documents. Therefore, in April 2023, when I was in Uzbekistan, I applied to the embassy of the Russian Federation in Tashkent. There, they told me to go to the Chelyabinsk province and gave me a referral to consider the issue of Russian citizenship in this place.

I went to the Chelyabinsk province and received Russian citizenship because I was born in the USSR. On August 28, 2023, when I went to the St. Petersburg Department of Defense Affairs to register, they signed a contract for military service in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. I didn't even read this contract.

After that, the employees of the Ministry of Defense of Russia took me to the military training ground and put me in military uniform and gave me weapons. Then they put me and others through 1 month of military training.

After military training, we were sent to Donetsk province, where military conflicts between Russia and Ukraine are taking place. We provided security services in the territories occupied by Russia during the military operations. We were also involved in the transportation of dead soldiers who died in the occupied territories," the man said in his testimony.

Sh.J. added that in October 2023 in the Donetsk province they were attacked by the Ukrainian military using drones with grenades. He was wounded in the right and left knee areas and hands as a result of being hit by grenade shrapnel. After that, he was placed in a military hospital in St. Petersburg. After the treatment, he lived with his son, who was working in Russia for some time. On April 25, 2024, father and son returned to Uzbekistan.

According to the court verdict Sh.J., he was found guilty of Becoming mercenary charge of the Criminal Code. He was sentenced to 3 years of imprisonment using Article 57 of the Criminal Code.

A young man from Namangan, who had previously joined "Wagner" and participated in military operations, was sentenced to 5 years in prison.