Amid efforts to fight corruption, Uzbek President calls prosecutors trash

Uzbekistan ranks 156 in Transparency International perceptions of corruption index

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev rained his anger upon his country’s public prosecutors on August 2, accusing them of being “thieves” and corrupt.

Mirziyoyev has been ruling the country since last autumn, when iron-handed Islam Karimov, the first president of independent Uzbekistan, died after 25 years of being in the power.

The US-funded Radio Ozodlik, which broadcasts from Prague, obtained uncensored audio of the president’s video conference with Uzbek prosecutors, in which he said:

I am sorry, but I don’t like prosecutors at all…. I was a district chairman, a province chairman and I know very well how these unscrupulous people behave.

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