On September 24, a military court issued a verdict following a closed-door hearing regarding the criminal case involving staff members of the *Taftish.uz* editorial office and officers from the State Security Service (SSS) department responsible for overseeing media activities.
According to human rights activist Abdurahmon Tashanov, the publication's head, Gayrat Aberayev, was sentenced to 10 years and 6 months in prison, while journalist Marjona Eshquvvatova received a sentence of 4 years and 1 month. Two other representatives of the editorial office, as well as former SSS employees, were also handed prison terms exceeding 10 years.
The defendants reportedly faced charges including slander, insult, fraud, and extortion.
The verdict has not yet entered into legal force. Surayyo Khojamqulova, press secretary for the Supreme Court, stated that official information would be released once the verdict becomes legally binding.
The *Taftish.uz* staff members were arrested in January 2026 on suspicion of extortion and fraud. At the time, the Ministry of Internal Affairs announced that they were accused of demanding money in exchange for either disseminating or removing from the internet materials that would discredit citizens.
