A mother who attempted to sell her 11-year-old son for 40 million soums (approximately $3,150) due to severe financial distress has been sentenced to three years and six months in prison by a court in Uzbekistan's southernmost Surkhandarya province.
The ruling relied on Article 57 of the Criminal Code to hand down a sentence significantly below the standard statutory minimum for human trafficking involving minors. Under Article 135, clause 3(b), trafficking a minor typically carries a mandatory prison sentence of 10 to 15 years.
The conviction follows a sting operation executed by law enforcement on April 4, 2026, near the Youth Center in Termez. According to investigators, the defendant had negotiated a deal with an acquaintance to hand over her son, born in 2014. The parties agreed to an initial payment of 20 million soums, with the remaining balance to be settled once legal guardianship was fraudulently transferred.
The prospective buyer recognized the illegality of the arrangement and had alerted authorities. Detectives marked the cash with chemical tracking agents and closely monitored the exchange. The mother was arrested red-handed immediately after accepting the first installment and releasing the child to the informant.
"Before leaving for the meeting, I told my son, 'My boy, I am giving you up for adoption so that you can have a better life,'" the defendant testified during the trial. She cited homelessness, a broken marriage, and overwhelming debt as the drivers behind her decision, adding that she wanted her child to escape the poverty she could not alleviate.
Following the verdict, the court ordered local social services and municipal authorities to immediately oversee the placement and legal guardianship of the boy.
The case highlights ongoing issues with illegal child sales driven by socioeconomic pressures across the country. In a separate recent ruling in the Fergana province, a married couple was sentenced to five years in prison after attempting to sell their newborn infant.
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