Tashkent police investigate blogger's video showing lynching of singer

According to the Main Department of Internal Affairs statement published on the evening of November 6, the author of the video, an Instagram user, was identified by the Department for Coordinating the Activities of Internal Affairs Bodies of Olmazor district. The situation is under the control of the capital's central department, and a lawful decision will be made following the investigation. The agency did not disclose the author's name. Gazeta.uz noted that the statement did not specify whether he had been detained.

The Main Department of Internal Affairs also released a video in which the blogger says internal affairs officers explained to him that legal measures would be taken over the clip. "I apologize to everyone for this content of mine. I regret what I did," he says. The agency urged citizens to abide by the law when posting information on the internet.

Earlier, the anti-violence project Nemolchi.uz called for a legal assessment of the video: first on November 4, and subsequently the project appealed to the Prosecutor General's Office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. According to the project's description, the character in the video watches a singer's music video, then takes actions hinting at her murder and the burial of her body, and asks for more black bags, stating that many in society have forgotten their identity and honor. Uzbekistan's and the Ministry of Internal Affairs' flags appear at the end.

According to Nemolchi.uz, the author has about 600,000 followers on Instagram, and the clip gained over a million views in a few days. By the time of the project's appeal, it had already been removed from the blogger's page. Nemolchi.uz stated that disagreement with others' views or creativity justifies neither threats nor violence.