A criminal case has been opened in Tashkent against Fazlidinkhon Mekhmonov, head of Demokrat.uz, and blogger Aziz Goipnazarov. Investigators claim they demanded $50,000 from the owner of a car dealership in exchange for removing a compromising video. Mekhmonov was detained while receiving part of the money. According to the outlet, Demokrat.uz was registered as a media organization in 2022 and has a large audience on YouTube and Instagram. The case is part of a series of criminal prosecutions of journalists and bloggers in Uzbekistan in January–February 2026, including detentions in Urgench and Tashkent and a prison sentence in Margilan.
The Investigative Department under the Tashkent City Department of Internal Affairs has opened criminal proceedings against Fazlidinkhon Mekhmonov, head of the online publication Demokrat.uz, and blogger Aziz Goipnazarov. The case was initiated under Article 165, Part 3, пункт “a” of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan — extortion on an especially large scale.
According to investigators, on December 15, 2025, Goipnazarov posted online a video discrediting the activities of a car dealership in Sergeli. After that, Mekhmonov together with him allegedly demanded $50,000 from the dealership owner. In return, they promised to delete the video from social media and refrain from publishing another damaging clip.
On January 29, Mekhmonov received $3,000 from the victim. On February 10, while receiving another $17,000, he was detained with material evidence.
Law enforcement agencies have appealed to citizens: if anyone has suffered from the actions of these individuals, they should contact the nearest police station or call 102.
According to information posted on the Demokrat.uz website, the site was registered with the Agency of Information and Mass Communications under the Administration of the President of Uzbekistan as a mass media outlet on October 1, 2022. The last article on the site was published on January 31 of this year. The last post in the outlet’s Telegram channel, which has 8,295 subscribers, also appeared on that date.
The Demokrat.uz YouTube channel has 608,000 subscribers, and its Instagram account has 350,000 followers. The outlet’s Facebook page is currently unavailable.
This is not the first criminal case against journalists and bloggers in recent months.
At the end of January in Urgench, Furkat Ruzmetov, head of the Qonun doirasida project, and editorial staff member Azamat Avezov were taken into custody. They are suspected of defamation, extortion, and a number of other crimes. Both are lawyers.
On January 16, 2026, five people linked to the media outlet Taftish.uz were detained in Tashkent. They are suspected of crimes under Articles 165 (extortion) and 168 (fraud) of the Criminal Code of Uzbekistan.
Also, on January 20, the Margilan City Criminal Court found journalist Elyor Tojiboev guilty under several articles of the Criminal Code of Uzbekistan and sentenced him to four years in prison to be served in a strict-regime penal colony.