Blogger Emine Karamanova sentenced to 7.5 years in prison 

At the court session held on December 13, the appellate instance of the Tashkent regional court on criminal proceedings left unchanged the 7.5-year prison sentence of the lower instance court against blogger Lemara Mirzaakhmedova, who was active on social networks under the pseudonym Emine Karamanova, the Chairman of "Ezgulik" society Abdurakhmon Tashanov informed  about this on his social network page.

The 47-year-old female blogger was charged with Article 139 (defamation), Article 140 (insult) and Article 165 (extortion) of the Criminal Code. 

Charges under Article 167 (robbery by misappropriation) and Article 228 (forgery of documents) filed by the investigative body were withdrawn. 

According to the extortion episode, the victim is an official of Yangiyul district administration. 

The blogger is scheduled to serve her sentence in a regular colony. 

Lemara Mirzaakhmedova was arrested in March of this year by the Tashkent regional DIA on charges of Articles 139, 140, 165, 167 and 228 of the Criminal Code. It was noted that the enterprise under her leadership "looted budget funds by forging documents".

The Tashkent regional DIA added that the criminal case against Mirzaakhmedova was not related to her blogging activities.