A woman who had been registered as an HIV-positive patient at the Samarkand regional HIV/AIDS treatment centre since September 2015 was formally warned by medical staff against transmitting the virus to others and had signed a written acknowledgment of her legal obligations and potential criminal liability. Despite this, and despite having a prior criminal record including a previous conviction under the same HIV-related article of the Criminal Code in July 2025 — for which her sentence had subsequently been converted to imprisonment after she violated its terms — she continued her criminal activity.
On 8 December 2025, law enforcement received a complaint from two individuals using pseudonyms, alleging that the defendant was operating a brothel from her home in Nurobod district and was engaging in sexual relations with others despite her HIV-positive status. A covert police operation was mounted. Undercover participants, equipped with marked money totalling 200,000 soums and a dictaphone, attended the defendant’s address. The defendant arranged for sexual relations to take place for payment, providing a separate room for this purpose. She herself engaged in sexual intercourse with one of the undercover male participants, knowingly placing him at risk of HIV infection. Officers entered the room while the act was taking place and apprehended her in the act. The marked money was subsequently found in her possession.
The defendant fully admitted guilt at trial. She stated she had contracted HIV from her former husband in September 2015 while seven months pregnant, that her child had been born HIV-free, and that she had been receiving regular free medication and check-ups since diagnosis. She expressed genuine remorse and requested a non-custodial sentence, citing her status as a single mother with one minor child. The court acknowledged these as mitigating factors but determined that, given her prior convictions for the same category of offence, her deliberate and mercenary motivation, and the finding that rehabilitation outside of detention was not possible, a custodial sentence was warranted. The commission of a new intentional offence while having prior intentional convictions was treated as an aggravating circumstance.
The defendant was convicted under Article 131, Part 2 (operating a brothel) and Article 113, Part 4 (knowingly placing another person at risk of HIV infection) of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Applying Article 57 to reduce below the standard minimum given the mitigating factors, and combining the sentences under Articles 59 and 61, the court imposed a final consolidated sentence of 3 years and 8 months’ imprisonment to be served in a general regime correctional colony, with the sentence running from 21 February 2026. Physical evidence including alcohol and tobacco products seized during the operation was ordered destroyed upon the verdict entering into legal force.
