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The story of the tragic car accident on Temur Malik Street in Tashkent on August 25, 2021, has once again drawn public attention. A young man was hit on an unregulated pedestrian crossing. The driver responsible for the incident avoided criminal prosecution several times due to repeated attempts by investigators to close the case “for lack of evidence.” However, 21 months after the tragedy, under pressure from the public and the media, he was finally convicted. Today, it became known that he served only one year in prison and was released. Worse still, now he is suing the mother of the deceased to avoid paying compensation for his crime.
In August 2023, the court sentenced him to 4 years in prison and banned him from driving for 3 years. It seemed that justice had finally been served, albeit with significant delays. However, subsequent events have shown that, unfortunately, this was not the case.
This incident raises many questions about the justice system and the work of law enforcement. How could it happen that a person who caused a fatal accident was repeatedly released by investigators? Why did it take a media outcry to finally bring the case to trial? And why was the guilty party released so quickly?
According to prominent journalist Nikita Makarenko, this is indicative of a systemic problem.
“Unfortunately, our state is not only unable to catch killer drivers, but even when it does, it seeks to release them as quickly as possible,” he remarked.
Makarenko noted that the driver who killed Elena Lukash’s son was almost left free five times, despite the clear evidence of his guilt. It was only after two years of pressure from the media that the case finally went to trial. Yet, even after the sentencing, the actual punishment turned out to be much more lenient than expected.
“Elena Ivanovna informed me today that the driver was released after one year. The killer has now sued the mother of the deceased to overturn the decision on compensation. He appeared in court himself, and that’s how everyone found out he was free. So much for justice, so much for punishment,” he stressed.
The news of the driver’s release after just a year of imprisonment, and his lawsuit against the mother of the deceased, feels like a cruel mockery of the grieving family. Elena Lukash, who lost her son, is now forced to defend herself in court against the very person who took her child away.
This case raises questions about the effectiveness of the justice system and whether there is any hope for justice for those who become victims of such tragedies. It is evident that without media coverage and public outcry, justice might not have been served at all. Even in cases where the trial took place, doubts remain about the fairness of the sentences and their enforcement.
Such situations, where the guilty receive lenient punishments or avoid them altogether, seriously undermine public trust in the justice system. Whether this trust can be restored remains to be seen. However, each such case only strengthens the feeling that in the fight for justice, citizens are often left alone to face injustice.
UPD – The Supreme Court has reported that the remaining part of the driver’s sentence has been replaced with 3 years of corrective labor, with 15 percent of his wages being deducted in favor of the state. As a result, the driver was released from the settlement colony.
Additionally, today the court ruled to recover 7.4 million UZS in material damages and 120 million UZS in moral damages from the driver in favor of the deceased’s mother.
The article may contain inaccuracies as it is translated by AI. For more details, please refer to the Russian version of the article. If you notice any inaccuracies, you can send corrections via the Telegram bot: Uzvaibik_bot.
