CENTRAL ASIA Mafia trials between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan

In Tashkent, Salim Abduvaliev, a drug lord who was tried in his country to avoid harsher sentences in Kyrgyzstan, is sentenced to six years in prison. Powerful characters with dangerous entanglements with the world of politics and sports. So much so that even excellent arrests raise more questions than certainties about the investigations against them.

Tashkent () – In recent days, the trial against one of the main leaders of organized crime in the countries of Central Asia, the Uzbek Salim Abduvaliev, tried in his country on minor charges to avoid harsher sentences in Kyrgyzstan, has caused a sensation. according to several media outlets from both countries. The trial had continued since March, and in Tashkent the kingpin was finally sentenced to six years in prison for illicit firearms trafficking and smuggling, the latter charge he had already served since his arrest.

Despite the conviction, the mafia boss has not yet been transferred to the prison camp and remains at the disposal of the security services. The lawyers have obtained admission for him to a specialized clinic for cardiac check-ups, where he was able to meet with his son Džasur, who assured that “dad is fine, but he has lost a lot of weight, I don’t know why they haven’t transferred him to prison yet, “They don’t tell us anything.”

In Kyrgyzstan, Abduvaliev is wanted for several crimes, including illegal border crossing together with a Žogorku Keneš deputy, Emil Žamgyrčiev, who allegedly helped him defend himself against accusations of attempting on the life of President Sadyr Žaparov and other Kyrgyz authorities. The president himself confirmed the validity of these accusations, after a joint investigation by the Kyrgyz and Uzbek services, declaring the boss wanted internationally.

According to some sources, Abduvaliev’s fate was discussed face to face by the two presidents Žaparov and Mirziyoyev before the start of a police operation in which another prominent organized crime figure, Kamči Kolbaev (real name Kamčibek Asanbek), was killed and Several other raids followed in Uzbekistan with the arrests of dozens of gangsters from various groups.

Bandits of Abduvaliev’s level play a crucial role in the life of these Central Asian countries, closely linked to Russia since the clandestine trafficking of Soviet times, then developed in the last thirty years with great influence on the political life of post-Soviet societies. In 2016, the now detained leader was one of the main supporters of the current Uzbek president Šavkat Mirziyoyev, spreading photographs in which he wore a T-shirt with the legend “Let’s vote for Mirziyoyev.”

Known in the vernacular as Salim-Bogač (“Rich Salim”), the boss is also a film producer and vice president of the Olympic Committee of Uzbekistan, and is the main associate of another important representative of organized crime, Gafur Rakhimov, former president of the International Boxing Association (IBA), considered one of the main drug barons of the former Soviet world.

In Kyrgyzstan, deputy Salajdin Ajdarov and businessman Žalil Atambaev have been arrested for their dealings with Abduvaliev, and some of their relatives are also wanted for illicit trafficking of various kinds under the protection of mafia groups. The saga of covert criminal power in Central Asia still seems far from over, and even the excellent arrests of recent years, which presidents proclaim as definitive victories over anarchy, raise more questions and perplexities than certainties about the true nature of the structures of these States.