share Print Since Shavkat Mirziyoev took over as Uzbekistan’s leader in September 2016, the Uzbek government has been saying the country is no longer the repressive state that first President Islam Karimov ruled over for 25 years. Uzbek authorities say reforms are under way and there is a new respect in the country for basic rights and freedoms. But in May, Uzbekistan’s judicial system seemed to return to practices not seen since Karimov was alive. One blogger was imprisoned for 6 1/2 years for reporting about local corruption. At roughly the same time, all but one of the individuals whose incompetence and corruption led to Uzbekistan’s Sardoba dam bursting in May 2020, causing the evacuation of more than 100,000 people in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, widespread property damage, and the death of at least six people, were given prison sentences of five years or less.