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Uzbek
Law enforcement authorities in Tashkent shared an unusual case that ended with a court verdict. A resident of Tashkent, tired of waiting for his debts to be repaid, decided to take matters into his own hands in an unconventional yet illegal way: he stole his debtors’ phones and sold them.
How did it happen?
The first victim was an acquaintance who owed money for a shared outing at a café. Despite repeated reminders to repay the debt, the only response the man received was, “I don’t have any money.” Frustrated, the defendant resorted to a cunning plan — he asked the acquaintance for his Samsung A52 phone under the pretext of making an urgent call. Seizing the moment, he disappeared and sold the phone, worth 5.5 million UZS, for just 1.8 million UZS.
The next victim was a neighbor who hadn’t returned money borrowed to pay rent. Using the same scheme, the man took the neighbor’s Redmi Note 8, valued at 2 million UZS, claiming he needed it to make a call. However, he never returned the phone and sold it for 700,000 UZS.
In court
During the investigation, the defendant didn’t see himself as guilty. He argued that the phones were “legitimate compensation” for the money he had spent on his debtors.
Nevertheless, the court found him guilty under Article 168 of the Criminal Code (fraud). When sentencing, the court considered that the man had fully reimbursed the financial losses to the victims. The court concluded that he could be rehabilitated without being isolated from society and sentenced him to one year of correctional labor with 10% of his income withheld for the state.
Conclusion
This story serves as a reminder that even the most creative solutions to financial problems cannot justify breaking the law. Failing to repay debts is bad, but taking matters into your own hands is even worse.
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.
