An Uzbek student has been sentenced to six years in jail for fatally beating a fellow medical student in a suspected bullying case that sparked public outrage in the country.
Tashkent’s Mirobod district court sentenced 18-year-old Islombek Tulaganov on October 30, Gazeta.uz reported.
Tulaganov, 18, was found guilty of intentionally inflicting grievous bodily harm to Zhasur Ibragimov, who subsequently died of his injuries.
Family and friends of 17-year-old Ibragimov said that he was bullied and severely beaten by several fellow students at Borovsky Medical College in Tashkent on May 3. He died in a hospital a month later.
Police said that Ibragimov’s death was caused by “intentional, serious bodily injury.”
Ibragimov’s death sparked a public outcry and a rare protest rally in the tightly controlled country.
Hundreds of protesters gathered in Tashkent on June 4, demanding authorities bring the perpetrators to justice.
Uzbekistan's prosecutor-general, Ikhtiyor Abdullaev, vowed to “personally control” the probe into the killing.
