Lawyer Of Gulnara Karimova Believes She Was Taken From Jail In Ambulance

Gulnara Karimova in 2010

The lawyer for Gulnara Karimova, the daughter of the late Uzbek President Islam Karimov, says he believes she has been taken from the prison where she is being held in an ambulance.

The lawyer, Gregoire Mangeat, said on Twitter that he was waiting outside Uzbekistan's Zangiota jail to see his client when an ambulance emerged.

He said a reliable source told him that Karimova was in the ambulance.

She was jailed in March for violating the terms of her house arrest after receiving a five-year sentence in 2015 on charges of embezzlement and extortion.

Uzbek prosecutors have said they aim to seize more than $1.5 billion in foreign assets held by Karimova, including luxury properties.

Mangeat had said on July 11 that Swiss authorities had put on hold the return to Uzbekistan of $555 million confiscated in connection with Karimova's case.

He said the decision had been made due to alleged violations of Karimova's rights and the denial of medical assistance.

Karimova's daughter Iman said on Instagram on the same day that her mother "is not receiving proper medical assistance and is under psychological pressure" in prison.

Iman Karimova also published a letter on her mother's behalf last month saying she needed surgery for unspecified reasons.

Once a socialite, businesswoman, and a pop singer, Karimova disappeared from public view after falling out with her father in 2014, while he was still the country's authoritarian leader.

Islam Karimov ran Central Asia's most populous nation from 1989 until his death in 2016.

Based on reporting by Reuters and Interfax