The public outcry over the unlawful criminal prosecution of Lieutenant Colonel Valijon Rakhmanov, an officer in the Military Counterintelligence Department of the State Security Service of Uzbekistan (SSS), has compelled the country’s judiciary to review his case in full in the Appellate Military Court of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

The sole piece of evidence used to convict Rakhmanov was the testimony of Rashid Matyakupov, which, as later revealed, had been obtained under the threat of gang rape against his mother.

Despite this disturbing revelation, on Tuesday, April 8, 2025, the Appellate Military Court—after a month and a half of what appeared to be a simulated, biased hearing—announced its decision: to uphold the original sentence handed down by the court of first instance.

Lieutenant Colonel Rakhmanov remains sentenced to 16 years in prison for alleged treason in favor of the United States and the United Nations. The decision was announced in the absence of the defendant’s attorney.

Coerced Confession and a Fabricated Criminal Case

In early 2024, during one of his fraudulent schemes, former National Security Service officer Rashid Matyakupov was detained by law enforcement officers and placed in a detention facility of the State Security Service (SSS) on Gvardeyskaya Street in Tashkent. To extract knowingly false testimony from Matyakupov against Lieutenant Colonel Rakhmanov, officers of the SSS Internal Security Department also brought in Matyakupov’s mother, who was held in custody for several days. The officers informed Matyakupov that his mother was being kept in a nearby cell and threatened that if he refused to testify, they would rape his elderly mother in front of him.

At the same time, officers from the same department told Matyakupov’s mother that if Rashid failed to comply with their demands, she would be gang raped in front of her son. The elderly woman lost consciousness upon hearing this. The agents called emergency medical assistance for her only after Matyakupov agreed to sign a false confession against Lieutenant Colonel Rakhmanov.

In the prewritten testimony drafted by SSS Internal Security officers, Matyakupov was instructed to state that he had personally witnessed Lieutenant Colonel Valijon Rakhmanov, an officer of the Military Counterintelligence Department of the State Security Service of Uzbekistan, maintaining ongoing contact with a U.S. embassy military attaché named “Douglas” and a UNDP deputy representative in Uzbekistan named “Sandra,” to whom he allegedly passed classified information.

It is important to note that during both the trial of first instance and the appellate hearing, Valijon Rakhmanov and his defense team submitted both oral and written requests to summon representatives of the U.S. Embassy and the UN in Uzbekistan to testify and clarify the nature of their so-called cooperation with the Uzbek military counterintelligence officer. However, citing the presence of a confession from Matyakupov in the case file, the prosecution objected to the involvement of foreign representatives in the closed trial, and the judges supported the objection.

At the appellate hearing, the military prosecutor, Nodir Ibragimov, made a statement that speaks for itself: “What do representatives of the U.S. Embassy and the UN in Uzbekistan have to do with this trial?”

The court’s dismissal of the defense motion to call these witnesses serves as further evidence of the fabricated nature of the criminal case against Valijon Rakhmanov.

At one of the court sessions, Matyakupov stated that he was retracting his earlier testimony because it had been obtained through physical and psychological torture—specifically, under threat that his mother would be gang raped in front of him. Following this statement, an SSS Internal Security officer named Shokhrukh repeatedly visited Matyakupov in detention, physically assaulting him and threatening his family, demanding that he return to his original testimony. At the following hearing—where Shokhrukh was again present—Matyakupov declared that he reaffirmed the testimony he gave during the preliminary investigation and asked the court to admit it into evidence. The appellate military court made no attempt to reconcile these directly contradictory statements.

It is worth noting that although Judge A. Jumayev formally presided over the hearing, all key decisions in the case were made solely by Sadriddin Eshonkulov, who was seated at the center of the bench.

Readers should be more closely acquainted with Sadriddin Bawabekovich Eshonkulov. He is the Chair of the Military Court of the Republic of Uzbekistan and, as an individual with a non-traditional sexual orientation, has long been under the control of the Uzbek security services.

During a secret meeting with his sexual partner, officers of the State Security Service allegedly broke into a rented apartment and recorded intimate footage of Eshonkulov engaging in homosexual acts with a recent graduate of the Tashkent State University of Law. Threatening to publicly expose his sexual orientation, the security services reportedly coerced Eshonkulov into becoming an informant.

To ensure the delivery of politically motivated verdicts in fabricated criminal cases—often conducted behind closed doors—corrupt officers within the SSS Internal Security Department facilitated Eshonkulov’s appointment as Chair of the Military Court of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Disregarding the Judicial Ethics Code and the principle that the judiciary is a safeguard for the rights and freedoms of citizens seeking fair justice, Judge Eshonkulov continues to determine people’s fates at the direction of his handlers in the State Security Service. He remains a key link in a much broader chain of systemic corruption.

Information about Sadriddin Eshonkulov and the details of Lieutenant Colonel Rakhmanov’s criminal case was provided to the political opposition movement Erkin O’zbekiston by a current employee of the Military Court of the Republic of Uzbekistan, who opposes the lawlessness occurring within the country’s judicial system. He requested anonymity and asked that this information be made public through our media channels.

Unlawful Arrest, Torture, and an Attempted Poisoning of Lieutenant Colonel Rakhmanov

While performing his professional duties, Lieutenant Colonel Rakhmanov uncovered large-scale embezzlement of public funds allocated for strengthening the country’s defense capabilities. These crimes directly involved high-ranking officials from the Internal Security Department of the State Security Service (SSS) of Uzbekistan and the Presidential Security Service of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Specifically, in 2019, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Uzbekistan, through the State Committee for the Defense Industry (since February 1, 2023, the Defense Industry Agency under the Ministry of Defense), ordered bomb disposal suits for sappers worth $2.5 million USD. According to the contract, the ministry made a 50% advance payment to the Committee’s account. The transaction was overseen by Khotamjon Yusupov. After $1.25 million was transferred from the Committee’s account to an offshore shell company, the money disappeared. Three years later, in 2022, the military prosecutor’s office opened a criminal investigation, which was later suspended and archived under pressure from corrupt SSS officers. As a result of this corruption, engineering and sapper units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs were left without the necessary protective equipment.

To cover their tracks, and based on false testimony from former National Security Service officer Rashid Matyakupov, corrupt security agents fabricated a criminal case against Lieutenant Colonel Rakhmanov, accusing him of espionage in favor of the United States and the United Nations.

On Sunday, February 25, 2024, officers of the SSS Internal Security Department summoned Lieutenant Colonel Rakhmanov at 10:00 a.m. under the pretext of official business. That evening, from 9:00 p.m. until late at night, around 30 SSS officers conducted searches at his family home and in his native village in the Namangan region, hoping to seize compromising documents. During the search at his parents’ home, SSS agents confiscated personal belongings, household items, and documents related to the apartment belonging to Rakhmanov’s mother, none of which have been returned to this day.

For ten days, without any formal charges, Rakhmanov was held at the Internal Security Department, where officers subjected him to so-called preventive conversations. They pressured him to abandon his investigation into the embezzlement of state funds and attempted to recruit him into their criminal group. When Rakhmanov, refusing to cooperate, rejected the allegations based on Matyakupov’s false statements, he was transferred to a detention facility and placed in solitary confinement, where he remained at the time this information was published.

To break his will, on February 28, 2024, SSS agents brought Rakhmanov’s wife, Roksana, to the investigation department, where she was threatened—just as Matyakupov’s mother had been—with rape in front of her husband and harm to their underage children. However, the couple’s physical and psychological training helped them endure the abuse perpetrated by SSS officers.

In an effort to force a confession, from mid-March to late April 2024, SSS investigator Javokhir Karimov subjected Rakhmanov to physical and psychological torture. For months, Karimov prevented Rakhmanov from hiring an independent lawyer, and once he finally did, blocked their meetings under formal pretexts between August 4 and September 10, 2024, and again between October 20 and November 16, 2024.

After the case gained public attention and several senior SSS officials were removed from office, remaining security agents attempted to poison Rakhmanov. Due to prolonged detention in solitary confinement and lack of access to medical care, Rakhmanov’s chronic illnesses worsened, and he developed dental issues. In March 2025, during a severe bout of tooth pain, he requested a cup of warm water to rinse his mouth. Upon adding salt and bringing the cup to his lips, he noticed the distinct smell of bitter almonds. As a trained counterintelligence officer, Rakhmanov immediately recognized the presence of potassium cyanide in the water.

Rakhmanov reported the incident to the appellate military court and submitted a motion requesting a formal investigation. However, Judge Eshonkulov, known to be under the control of the security services, dismissed the motion, as he had done with most of Rakhmanov’s and his defense’s motions.

To prevent Rakhmanov from submitting written appeals regarding the attempted poisoning and the unlawful criminal case against him, the detention center administration began, from March 20, 2025, confiscating writing paper and pens from care packages addressed to him, thus depriving him of his constitutional right to petition state authorities.

Hoping to see her son for the first time since his unlawful arrest, Rakhmanov’s mother traveled from the Namangan region to attend a court hearing on April 1 of this year. However, Uzbek authorities did not allow the meeting. Standing outside the military court building, she recorded a video appeal to the President of Uzbekistan, which was delivered to us through a trusted network. Around 10:00 a.m. CET, the video was published on the Erkin O’zbekiston YouTube channel.

Later that day, at 4:45 p.m. CET, YouTube notified Erkin O’zbekiston that the video had been removed due to a copyright claim by a user named Baxodir Gayratov (contact: baxodirgayratov98@gmail.com).

Within 24 hours, the video was restored. During that time, it was discovered that Gayratov, who lives in France, had submitted the claim based on content supposedly owned by the Facebook page “Bugungi Trendlar”, which is operated from Uzbekistan.

On April 2, while Rakhmanov’s mother remained in Tashkent, still hoping to see her son, an unidentified man arrived at her home in the Namangan region. Claiming to represent “competent authorities,” he attempted to interrogate the family about the video appeal published on the Erkin O’zbekiston YouTube channel. When the family firmly demanded he identify himself and state which authority he represented, the man quickly fled the scene.

Pressure on Roksana Rakhmanova and Transnational Repression

The State Security Service of Uzbekistan has prohibited local bloggers and media outlets from reporting on the case of Lieutenant Colonel Rakhmanov, as doing so would inevitably expose large-scale embezzlement of public funds allocated to strengthening national defense—embezzlement involving high-ranking officials from the security services and beyond.

Witnessing the blatant injustice against her husband, and in an effort to defend his dignity, Rakhmanov’s wife, Roksana Rakhmanova, began publishing public video appeals on social media. This provoked retaliation from corrupt security officers.

A campaign of online harassment was launched against Roksana Rakhmanova. Using fake Facebook accounts, individuals tied to government-controlled troll farms threatened her with criminal charges and imprisonment for allegedly spreading false information.

On April 1 of this year, members of the troll farm created a fake Facebook profile under the name “Roksana Rakhmanova”, uploaded her recent video appeals copied from her real account, and altered the publication dates to earlier periods. They then submitted takedown requests to Facebook claiming copyright violations.

As a result, seven of her video appeals have been removed from her official profile.

The ultimate goal of these actions is to block Roksana Rakhmanova’s social media accounts and erase all her videos, in which she exposes the crimes of corrupt officers in the Internal Security Department of the SSS and seeks justice for her husband.

In parallel, to destabilize her further, security agents have attempted to create domestic issues. Since September 2019, the Rakhmanov family has rented a house under a lease valid until June 30, 2025. After Roksana began publishing her video appeals, agents began pressuring the landlord—through local authorities—to evict her along with her young children and elderly father, despite the valid lease agreement.

The political opposition movement Erkin O’zbekiston, which has been monitoring Lieutenant Colonel Rakhmanov’s case since January of this year, has also been subjected to transnational repression by Uzbek authorities. Following our publications revealing large-scale embezzlement of state funds and other crimes committed by the Mirziyoyev regime, Uzbek authorities opened a criminal case against the founder of Erkin O’zbekiston, Mr. Hasanboy Burhanov, under Article 162 of the Criminal Code of Uzbekistan—“Disclosure of State Secrets.” More on this will follow.

Since March 20, Erkin O’zbekiston’s social media platforms—YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram—have been under heavy attack by Uzbek troll farms. The movement’s YouTube channel was blocked twice (on March 25 and March 27), and both times it was successfully restored. However, the channel continues to receive takedown requests from fake users, and there is a serious risk of a third blockage.

Using 23 fake email addresses, members of the troll network have been submitting copyright takedown requests to YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram targeting current video content and posts shared by Erkin O’zbekiston—content they have no legal claim to.

As of April 14, 2025, Erkin O’zbekiston’s Facebook and Instagram pages, as well as Mr. Burhanov’s personal Facebook account, remain blocked. The movement’s website has been inaccessible from within Uzbekistan since January 5, 2023.

Uzbek users who share Erkin O’zbekiston’s posts are subjected to online abuse and targeted harassment.

During live streams on the movement’s YouTube channel, organized audio disruptions and coordinated troll comments with insults and death threats are used to sabotage communication with supporters.

These actions by the Uzbek authorities reflect the Mirziyoyev regime’s open disregard for international standards, despite its obligations under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The escalating pressure on independent voices raises serious concerns about Uzbekistan’s democratic future and underscores the need for an international response to these violations.

International Response to the Espionage Scandal and U.S.–Uzbekistan Military Cooperation

In the course of monitoring this high-profile criminal case, the political opposition movement Erkin O’zbekiston contacted officials from diplomatic missions as well as a representative of a relevant structure within the U.S. Department of State to request comments regarding the alleged cooperation between Lieutenant Colonel Valijon Rakhmanov of the Military Counterintelligence Department of Uzbekistan’s State Security Service and staff from the U.S. Embassy in Tashkent and the Deputy Permanent Representative of the United Nations in Uzbekistan. The following responses were received:

— U.S. Embassy in Uzbekistan: “We learned of this case after seeing reports online. Should there be an official invitation, we are ready to participate in one of the court hearings.”

— United Nations Permanent Mission in Uzbekistan: “In cases where any member of our mission is accused of something, official authorities inform us. This may be a misunderstanding.”

— U.S. Department of State: “We have already been informed about this.”

The United States, as one of Uzbekistan’s twelve strategic partners, signed the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) with Uzbekistan on June 9, 2023, in Washington, D.C. This agreement allows both parties to securely exchange classified military information and gives Uzbekistan access to higher-level capabilities such as satellite imagery, signals intelligence, defense technologies, and additional funding. If Uzbekistan were led by a decisive leader with strong political will, this agreement could realistically shift the regional balance of power and act as a deterrent against creeping annexation efforts by China and Russia in Central Asia.

However, given the realities of the Mirziyoyev regime—marked by government incompetence, nepotism, and widespread corruption across all levels of power—the GSOMIA agreement will ultimately benefit the very countries it was meant to counterbalance. To speak frankly, all classified information and intelligence provided by the United States for strengthening Uzbekistan’s defense will, sooner or later, end up in the hands of the regime’s northern and eastern “strategic partners.”

For this very reason, on June 6, 2023—just before the agreement was signed—the Uzbek side insisted that their American counterparts keep the contents of the document classified and refrain from publicly acknowledging that the agreement had been signed.

It is worth noting that when similar agreements are signed with the United States, leaders of other countries do not hide either the fact of the signing or the content of such agreements related to national security from their citizens.

Six months after signing the GSOMIA agreement, Uzbek security services allowed a major leak of classified documents concerning close U.S.–Uzbekistan cooperation. More than 200 pages of these documents were published online (link in English, link in Russian).

Returning to the criminal case opened against Mr. Burhanov, it would be appropriate to remind the State Security Service of Uzbekistan to focus more on developing the professional skills and qualifications of its staff and to strengthen efforts to combat anti-state elements within its own ranks, rather than inventing fictitious enemies to justify the misappropriation of hundreds of millions of dollars in public funds.

In conclusion, it should be noted that the true symbol of Mirziyoyev’s so-called “New Uzbekistan” is corruption, and its epicenter is the State Security Service itself. The most vivid confirmation of this statement is the fabricated criminal case against Lieutenant Colonel Rakhmanov.