On August 10, President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev inked a Decree on measures to further secure guarantees for the protection of personal rights and freedoms in judicial and investigative activities

Key points:

1. Obtaining testimony from a suspect, accused or defendant by law enforcement officers is carried out on the basis of the written permission of an inquiry officer, investigator, prosecutor or judge, and only with the participation of a criminal defense lawyer;

2. The calculation of the period of detention of a person suspected of committing a crime is carried out from the moment of his actual arrest;

3. It is established that a suspect shall meet with a lawyer in private from the moment of his actual detention,

4. Mandatory participation of a defense attorney is placed in the consideration of cases against persons suspected or accused of committing an especially grave crime.

5. The Unified Information System "Electronic Criminal Law Statistics" has been created, which allows online registering applications, messages and other information about crimes and maintaining a unified electronic record of the results of their consideration.

6. Until June 1, 2021, interrogators and investigators will be provided with video recording equipment; pre-trial detention centers and institutions for the execution of sentences will be equipped with all needed audio & video recording technologies used during investigative actions.

The Presidential Decree is currenly available in Uzbek (https://lex.uz/ru/docs/4939467) and Russian (https://lex.uz/ru/docs/4939472)