Amid an ongoing crackdown on criminal bosses, a Tashkent court on August 5 sentenced notorious Uzbek criminal kingpin Saidaziz Saidaliev (aka Saidaziz Medgorodok) to 20 years in prison on charges of extortion, organizing a criminal group, illegal drugs possession, money laundering, and hooliganism. The 36-year-old was arrested in November along with several other notorious criminal bosses -- Baxtiyor Qudratullaev, Bahodir Sultonov, Lutfulla Umarov, and Salim Abduvaliev -- some of whom were considered "thieves-in-law," a title of elite status in the criminal hierarchy of the former Soviet Union. They all were sentenced to prison terms on similar charges in recent months. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Uzbek Service, click here.
Another High-Profile Uzbek Crime Boss Gets Lengthy Prison Term
Uzbek criminal kingpin Saidaziz Saidaliev (aka Saidaziz Medgorodok) in a courtroom in Tashkent in June