The Uchtepa District Criminal Court began hearing the criminal case against Alisher Tursunov, aka Mubashshir Akhmad, on Tuesday, the chief of the press service of the Supreme Court, Aziz Abidov reported.

The case is being considered in the first instance and is chaired by the judge Bobir Rakhimov.

According to the indictment, Alisher Tursunov is accused under the following articles of the Criminal Code:

• part 2 of the Article 156, the Intentional actions that humiliate national honor and dignity, insult the religious or atheistic beliefs of individuals, committed with the purpose of inciting hostility, intolerance or discord towards groups of the population on national, racial, ethnic or religious grounds Charge, which is punishable by house arrest from 3 to 5 years or imprisonment from 3 to 5 years);
• clause "g" of part 3 of article 244-1 the Manufacturing, storage, distribution or demonstration of materials containing a threat to public safety and public order using the media or telecommunications networks, as well as the Internet Charge, which is punishable by imprisonment from 5 to 8 years);
• article 244-3, the Illegal manufacturing, storage, import or distribution of materials of religious content Charge, which is punishable by a fine of 100 to 200 BCUs or correctional labor for up to three years).

A preventive measure in the form of detention was chosen against the accused.

Alisher Tursunov, 51, was born in Namangan. His father is a writer, translator, journalist and author of numerous religious and educational books, Akhmad Muhammad Tursun.

In 1991-1996, he studied at the Tashkent Islamic Institute and at the Cairo Al-Azhar University in Egypt. From 2002 to 2015, he studied with Sheikh Muhammad Sadiq Muhammad Yusuf, receiving several ijazats (permits for teaching) from him.

In August 2023, Mubashshir Ahmad announced the closure of all projects of the Azon New Media group, founded in 2017 (including the Azon.uz website, Azon FM online radio, and Azon TV online television). In November 2023, the Azon Global portal was launched, operating in four languages: Uzbek, Russian, English, and Turkish.

On December 28 of the same year, Turkish law enforcement detained Mubashshir Ahmad. The Consulate General of Uzbekistan in Istanbul then reported that the police took him from his home and placed him in a deportation center. On February 21, 2024, he was released from the deportation center.

It was reported in February, that a criminal case against Tursunov was opened under Part 1 of Article 244-2, Creation, leadership, participation in religious extremist, separatist, fundamentalist or other prohibited organizations Charge, which is punishable by imprisonment from 5 to 15 years, but this article is not in the indictment.

In May, he was detained in Turkey and deported to Uzbekistan.