Betrayal of the oath or a systemic problem?

In recent days, you have likely seen or heard the phrase “dismissed from office” more often than usual. The fact that those removed include senior officials, particularly individuals once entrusted with ensuring Tashkent’s security, and that some of them have faced harsh criticism, has contributed to the surge of such reports. On January 27, during a videoconference meeting at the Guard Directorate under the Tashkent City Main Department of Internal Affairs, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev sharply criticized the performance of law enforcement and supervisory bodies in the capital. Many were shown the door. But more on that later. For now, we turn to former officers who, in recent years, were forced to take off their uniforms.

The stability of any state is usually measured by the strength of its army, economy, and foreign policy capacity. However, one of the most delicate and decisive systems that binds these pillars together and creates a chain of trust between society and the authorities is the internal affairs system. It ensures the rule of law, maintains public order, and, most importantly, interacts directly with citizens on behalf of the state. For this reason, any unhealthy situation within this system is not merely an institutional problem, but a blow to public trust.

There is a painful saying among the people: “If even the judge wrongs your mother, to whom will you complain?” If justice begins to erode within the very system meant to uphold it, it is self-evident that citizens will be left asking, “Where is the support we can rely on?”

Over the past decade, the Uzbek public has witnessed numerous criminal cases, scandals, investigations, arrests, and heated debates involving high-ranking officials from the internal affairs system. Some were punished by court verdicts, while others remained at the center of accusations, dismissals, and public suspicion. Are these the problems of individual figures, or symptoms of a systemic illness? This is the key question.

Adham Ahmadboyev, Polat Shamshetov, Doniyor Toshkhujaev, Ahrorjon Adhamov, Bekmurod Abdullaev, Rustam Tursunov. These names once belonged to individuals who held important positions in the internal affairs system. Today, they are not mentioned with the same meaning, but with the same question: where was the line between authority and responsibility crossed?

A disgraced minister

It is appropriate to begin with Adham Ahmadboyev, who served as Minister of Internal Affairs from December 13, 2013, to January 4, 2017. His name represents a distinct period in the history of the internal affairs system. He remains the only Minister of Internal Affairs in modern Uzbekistan to have been publicly accused of betrayal by the President. Born in Tashkent in 1964, Ahmadboyev began his career in 1984 as a district police inspector in the Shaykhontohur district. After leading the ministry, he was later appointed as a presidential adviser on law enforcement agencies.

The former minister was arrested on February 9, 2018. His subsequent fate has not been publicly disclosed.

Deaths under investigation

In 2020, criminal cases were opened against five officers in the Chiroqchi district of Kashkadarya Region. They were accused of torturing a citizen detained on suspicion of livestock theft on January 23 of that year, as well as committing acts of cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment and intentionally causing severe bodily harm. Four former officers were sentenced to between five years and six months and nine years in prison. Another defendant was banned from working in internal affairs bodies and other official positions for two years and received a four-year restriction of liberty.

That same year, a death resulting from torture was also recorded in Andijan. An investigation revealed that a man brought to Police Department No. 4 in Andijan city had been unlawfully detained and subjected to torture, which led to his death. As a result of beatings and psychological pressure inflicted by several officers, the man died on June 11. Three officers were arrested, five senior officials were dismissed, and 19 individuals were disciplined.

In the shadow of the Nukus unrest

The mass unrest that took place in Nukus, Karakalpakstan, on July 1–2, 2022, became one of the most painful chapters in the country’s recent history. According to official data, 21 people were killed, 205 were injured, and 516 were detained. Among those arrested was Polat Shamshetov, former head of a department of the Criminal Investigation Directorate of the Karakalpakstan Ministry of Internal Affairs. His name quickly became one of the most controversial in connection with the Nukus events.

Shamshetov was found guilty under Article 244, Part 3 of the Criminal Code, accused of involving people in mass riots and actively participating in them. He was sentenced to six years in prison and banned from holding official positions and working in the internal affairs system for three years.

The most tragic development came later. On February 4, 2023, Shamshetov died suddenly while serving his sentence at Detention Facility No. 4 under the Department for the Execution of Sentences of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Official statements said the scene was examined by an investigative team led by the Bukhara regional prosecutor, with the participation of forensic experts, internal affairs leadership, witnesses, the regional representative of the Ombudsman, a lawyer, and the deceased’s relatives.

On one side stood state security and the constitutional order, on the other, authority, responsibility, and accountability. Polat Shamshetov’s life and death remained at the point where these two lines intersected.

Twelve officers convicted over a detainee’s death

In June 2023, 12 internal affairs officers in Andijan were convicted for beating a detainee to death. On March 19, 2022, 32-year-old Sanjarbek Mamajonov, a resident of Shahrixon district, was taken to a detention facility after a court replaced his correctional labor sentence with imprisonment. At the detention center, he was tortured and severely beaten by 12 officers.

Instead of receiving medical assistance despite life-threatening injuries, Mamajonov was placed in cell No. 32, where he was also beaten by another detainee. Approximately three and a half hours later, his biological death was recorded.

The court confirmed the guilt of all 12 officers based on irrefutable evidence and witness testimony. Six officers received four-year prison sentences, while six others were sentenced to three years of restricted liberty.

A fall following an unprecedented assassination attempt

On October 26, 2025, at around 01:40, a Range Rover traveling along Ifor Street in Qibray district came under gunfire by two unidentified individuals. The attack targeted Komil Allamjonov, the representative of the Presidential Administration of Uzbekistan in the United States. No one was injured.

A criminal case was opened under articles related to attempted murder and illegal handling of firearms. A joint investigative team was formed involving multiple prosecutorial and law enforcement bodies.

An assassination attempt against a Presidential Administration official was unprecedented in Uzbekistan’s recent 25–30 years of history and caused widespread concern. In the aftermath, several senior officials, including Doniyor Toshkhujaev, former first deputy head of the Tashkent City Main Department of Internal Affairs, were dismissed.

On February 12, 2026, the Military Court of Uzbekistan sentenced Toshkhujaev to seven years in prison as part of the case. He had been arrested a week after leaving office.

Further dismissals followed within the Ministry of Internal Affairs as the investigation unfolded.

We now arrive at the most recent developments. On January 27, 2026, during a videoconference meeting chaired by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, it was revealed that 186 billion soums in budget funds had been misappropriated within the Ministry of Internal Affairs system through public procurement. Criminal cases were opened against Deputy Minister Bekmurod Abdullaev and department head Rustam Tursunov.

“We need a corps of young leaders with high professional competence and strong demands,” the President said.

It was also noted that irregularities amounting to 53 trillion soums and over $8 billion in foreign trade debts had been identified, while corruption schemes caused damage totaling 4.2 trillion soums, with 1.3 trillion recovered and 55 individuals arrested.

This is not merely about personal enrichment or career ambition. It is about placing oneself above the law, treating state authority as personal privilege, and the dangerous illusion that “the system cannot function without me.” In reality, such illusions erode not the system, but public trust in the state.

Many young officers enter the internal affairs system with pure intentions: restoring justice, fighting crime, and ensuring public safety. But when privileges begin to outweigh responsibility as ranks rise, some lose touch with reality. Elevated ambitions can blind their owners to the people on the ground.

That is why reforming the system cannot be limited to punishing individuals. The main task is to restore the balance between authority and accountability, change the culture of service, and make trust, not rank, the core value. Because a system is sustained not by laws alone, but by the people who believe in it.