Uzbekistan's Supreme Court has exonerated 115 people convicted in the 1920s and 1930s by the Soviet regime for taking part in the Basmachi (Raiders) movement, which fiercely fought against Russian and Soviet forces.
The Supreme Court announced its decision to exonerate the men, many of whom were sentenced to death and others sent to prison for many years, on August 25.
According to the statement, the exonerated people had been recognized as victims of Soviet repressions by a special commission established in accordance with a 2020 order by President Shavkat Mirziyoev. The case materials revealed that the men were sentenced by troikas of the Soviet OGPU (Joint State Political Directorate), the predecessor to the Soviet KGB.
The victims' cases were officially accepted by the Supreme Court for review in February.
The Basmachi movement, which emerged during World War I in Central Asia, was eradicated by the Soviets by the late 1920s.
However, clashes between Soviet armed forces and remaining Basmachi rebels along the border with Afghanistan continued until the early 1930s.
