The General Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Uzbekistan issued a statement that freedom of speech is ensured, but its abuse is not allowed.

     It is noted that in Uzbekistan, freedom of speech is recognized as a constitutional right, the freedom of everyone to seek, receive and disseminate information that he wishes.

     It is an indisputable fact that the policy of openness implemented in recent years has reached a new level in terms of the quality of communication with the people, the strengthening of public control, the fact that citizens widely use these rights and freely express their opinions, conclusions and criticism.

     In particular, social networks have become a very popular space for the exchange of ideas among more than 31 million Internet users, and these opportunities have stimulated the development of not only social, but also entrepreneurial ideas.

     It is clear to all that these values and rights are of great importance for the development of every society.

     It is everyone's duty not to forget that where there is freedom and rights, there is responsibility and accountability on the other side, as well as the rights and interests of other third parties.

    Thus, the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Uzbekistan, as a body that oversees the rule of law and laws, has an equally important task to study the issues of not only ensuring freedom of speech, but also compliance with laws in this area, preventing infringement of other people’s rights and taking measures established by law.

     Unfortunately, an analysis of the processes and relationships taking place in the sphere of dissemination and exchange of information, in the information space as a whole, shows that in this regard, cases of abuse of freedoms, slander and insults, attempts to expand their audience by turning freedom of speech into a weapon for personal interests have become more frequent. , spreading false or misleading information.

     Recently, cases of slander and insults, dissemination of deliberately false information leading to the humiliation of a person's dignity or his discredit through the media and the Internet have become more frequent.

     The Prosecutor General's Office believes that the abuse of freedoms and rights provided for by laws is unacceptable, it is necessary to once again emphasize and recall the importance of mutually respectful communication in a sustainable information space, especially unconditional compliance with the procedures and requirements established by law.

     In particular, Article 121 of the Law "On Informatization" prohibits the dissemination of information by site owners, bloggers that damage the honor and dignity of citizens or business reputation, interfere with their privacy, as well as other dissemination of information.

     According to Article 6 of the Law "On the Protection of Journalism", the duties of a journalist include checking the correctness or incorrectness of the materials prepared by him and providing objective information, observing the principle of the presumption of innocence, it is also indicated that he must respect his rights and freedoms, honor and dignity.

       These norms of the legislation of Uzbekistan fully comply with the content of internationally recognized documents in the field of dissemination of information.

      For example, according to paragraph 10 of the International Journalistic Ethics adopted by the International Federation of Journalists, gross violations of professional journalistic ethics are distortion of facts (presenting them not as true), slander, false information and unfounded accusations.

      According to paragraph 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a journalist must not use the freedom of the press for personal interests, must refrain from obtaining personal gain illegally in exchange for the dissemination or non-distribution of information.

      Currently, a criminal case has been initiated against a group of citizens on the fact of their involvement in crimes committed through Telegram channels and other social networks, preliminary investigative actions are being carried out. During the investigative process, they are provided with a lawyer and their other rights and freedoms provided for by law are fully ensured.

      Despite the fact that up-to-date information about this process is provided, some persons try to disseminate deliberately false information by their subjective interpretation, taking the process out of the legal space.

      In this regard, the Prosecutor General's Office once again draws attention to the following.

     First, the interpretation of these cases as a “threat to freedom of speech” is completely untrue. There is no doubt that reforms to ensure freedom of speech will continue. The prosecutor's office will continue systematic work to implement these rights of citizens.

     Secondly, as noted above, no one has the right to turn such an important value as "freedom of speech" into a weapon of their own interests. Freedom of speech does not give you the right to commit illegal acts against other people.

     At the same time, the fact that some people engage in extortion under the guise of freedom of speech can lead to a loss of confidence in the institutions of civil society in society, discrediting journalism and the blogging community.

      Thirdly, as in any field, it is important to ensure the inevitability of liability for information violations. Journalism or blogging can never be an excuse to circumvent the law.

      As can be seen from the situation with the above violations, the fight against such crimes as slander, insult, dissemination of false information in the information space did not appear today, but is a natural process along with ensuring freedom of speech. Because the transformation in the information space, in turn, requires legitimacy in this direction as well.

     According to the above, the prosecutor's office, as in all criminal cases, fully ensures the legality of cases of crimes committed through social networks, and performs all control functions for the correct and fair resolution of the case. Every suspect, accused and defendant must be given the opportunity to use all the means and methods provided by law to defend themselves against charges.

     Attempts to distort the essence of the case and spread false information about committed crimes through Telegram channels and other social networks are not allowed. Attempts to obstruct the administration of justice, interference in the judicial and investigative process will be taken in the manner prescribed by law.

     In turn, the Prosecutor General's Office states that it is always ready to cooperate with the media, including bloggers.

UzA