TASHKENT -- Former Uzbek Prosecutor-General Rashidjon Qodirov, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison on corruption charges in June 2019, has been released on parole.
Media reports in Tashkent quoted law enforcement officials on January 5 as saying that Qodirov had been released several days earlier.
Qodirov was arrested in February 2018 and later convicted of bribe taking, extortion, financial fraud, tax evasion, obstruction of justice, and money laundering.
His arrest came about three years after he was fired amid a purge of officials connected to the investigation of Gulnara Karimova, the eldest daughter of late President Islam Karimov.
Karimova was placed under house arrest in Tashkent in 2014 when her father was still in office. Karimov died in 2016 and was succeeded by Shavkat Mirziyoev.
In December 2017, Karimova was sentenced to 10-years in prison but several months later the sentence was shortened to five years and switched to house arrest.
She was later transferred to prison for what officials called a violation of house-arrest regulations.
In 2020, Karimova sentenced to an additional 13 years in prison after being found guilty of extortion, money laundering, and other crimes.
Qodirov, who served as the country's top law enforcement official for 15 years, was the prosecutor-general in 2014 when Karimova was initially charged.
Uzbekistan became isolated and economically stagnant under Karimov, who tightly ruled the country after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Since Karimov's death in 2016, Mirziyoev has publicly criticized government agencies and has taken steps to dismiss or remove many officials in power during his predecessor's rule.