By Juan Montoya
In 1924, the constituent republic of the Soviet Union known as the Uzbek-Soviet Socialist Republic was created under domination of Moscow's omnipresent state apparatus.
Following the breakup of the Soviet Union, it declared independence as the Republic of Uzbekistan on August 31, 1991. Since then, the nascent country has been trying to tear itself from the legacy of the Soviet state with its shadowy state intelligence services and its draconian system of "justice" which placed the state above human and individual rights.
On Monday, a group of Uzbekis from the Central Asian landlocked nation traveled the 12,545 kilometers (about 8,000 miles) to Brownsville on a cultural exchange tour to see how the U.S. legal system operates. They learned about the selection of juries for trials, the arraignment and setting of bonds for defendants, and the holding of prisoners pending trial.
![]()
Brownsville attorney Tony "Trey" Martinez was the host of he exchange and took the time to take the dozen Uzbeki legal professionals – including translators and facilitators with Regional Dialogue – and showed them the U.S. legal system work at ground level.
Under their constitution, the president appoints judges for five-year terms. There are also town, city, and arbitration courts appointed for five-year terms.
The judicial system also consists of a constitutional court, higher economic court, and economic court of the republic. Defendants have the right to an attorney and most trials are open to the public. In political cases, the judiciary may experience pressure from the government.
The group was shown arraignments of defendants in the Magistrate Court under Associate Judge Luis Sorola who said the visitors were eager to learn the mechanism of trying people in the U.S. legal system of personal guarantees and restrictions on the state. They sat in on the afternoon arraignments at the Rucker-Carrizalez correctional facilities. (That's Sorola in the middle of the group photo above.)
"They don't have juries in their country," Sorola said. "They have appointed judges. What started out as a short visit turned into almost 2 and one-half hours. They asked all sorts of questions and we did our best to answer them."
The road from being a Soviet satellite with an all-powerful state to modernize its legal system has been a slow, tortuous one for Uzbekistan. Below the layer of the state pervasive intelligence and surveillance apparatus, there is a predominantly Sunni Muslim culture that was used by the state in outlying areas to coerce the compliance of citizens with the government.
The Human Rights Watch reported that as late as 2018 there were documented instances of the torture and jailing of dissidents and journalists for periods as long as 10 to 15 years or more. In some cases, secret police rounded up ethnic minorities and dissidents to forced labor in the country's cotton fields in the arid western regions.
Following the breakup of the Soviet Union, it declared independence as the Republic of Uzbekistan on August 31, 1991. Since then, the nascent country has been trying to tear itself from the legacy of the Soviet state with its shadowy state intelligence services and its draconian system of "justice" which placed the state above human and individual rights.
On Monday, a group of Uzbekis from the Central Asian landlocked nation traveled the 12,545 kilometers (about 8,000 miles) to Brownsville on a cultural exchange tour to see how the U.S. legal system operates. They learned about the selection of juries for trials, the arraignment and setting of bonds for defendants, and the holding of prisoners pending trial.
Brownsville attorney Tony "Trey" Martinez was the host of he exchange and took the time to take the dozen Uzbeki legal professionals – including translators and facilitators with Regional Dialogue – and showed them the U.S. legal system work at ground level.Under their constitution, the president appoints judges for five-year terms. There are also town, city, and arbitration courts appointed for five-year terms.
The judicial system also consists of a constitutional court, higher economic court, and economic court of the republic. Defendants have the right to an attorney and most trials are open to the public. In political cases, the judiciary may experience pressure from the government.
The group was shown arraignments of defendants in the Magistrate Court under Associate Judge Luis Sorola who said the visitors were eager to learn the mechanism of trying people in the U.S. legal system of personal guarantees and restrictions on the state. They sat in on the afternoon arraignments at the Rucker-Carrizalez correctional facilities. (That's Sorola in the middle of the group photo above.)
"They don't have juries in their country," Sorola said. "They have appointed judges. What started out as a short visit turned into almost 2 and one-half hours. They asked all sorts of questions and we did our best to answer them."
The road from being a Soviet satellite with an all-powerful state to modernize its legal system has been a slow, tortuous one for Uzbekistan. Below the layer of the state pervasive intelligence and surveillance apparatus, there is a predominantly Sunni Muslim culture that was used by the state in outlying areas to coerce the compliance of citizens with the government.
The Human Rights Watch reported that as late as 2018 there were documented instances of the torture and jailing of dissidents and journalists for periods as long as 10 to 15 years or more. In some cases, secret police rounded up ethnic minorities and dissidents to forced labor in the country's cotton fields in the arid western regions.
Some of the reforms being put into place with the assistance of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime as recently as April 1, 2017 include:
*The liberalization of the criminal justice system that is trying to abolish the arrest and incommunicado detention from one to up to six months in special detention facilities. That is to be abolished as a punishment and replaced by alternatives that do not include deprivation of liberty;
* The increase in the protection of human rights and to encourage efficiency of investigative agencies, including the limitation of pre-trial arrest without warrant to 48 hours (as opposed to the current 72 hours);
*The liberalization of the criminal justice system that is trying to abolish the arrest and incommunicado detention from one to up to six months in special detention facilities. That is to be abolished as a punishment and replaced by alternatives that do not include deprivation of liberty;
* The increase in the protection of human rights and to encourage efficiency of investigative agencies, including the limitation of pre-trial arrest without warrant to 48 hours (as opposed to the current 72 hours);
* The enhancement of legal protections of citizens during the pre-trial detention, its maximum duration as well as the maximum length of investigation of criminal cases to be reduced from 12 months to 7 months.
Some of the visitors who toured the magistrate court and later were led by Cameron County Sheriff Omar Lucio on a tour of the detention facility included:
Bobur Bekmurodov, Deputy Director of Development Strategy Centre
Khoji Murod Isokov, Defense lawyer
Alimdjan Kariev, Head of International Department of the Supreme Court
Khudoyor Mamatov, 1st Deputy Director of Ministry of Justice Training Center
Mukhsinjon Madaminov, Defense lawyer
Davronbek Saidov, Defense lawyer
Nodirbek Salaev is Deputy Rector (Research and International Activities), Tashkent State University of Law
Petra Gorjup, Senior Program Specialist, Regional Dialogue
Spela Kostrun, Program Manager, Regional Dialogue
Ikbal Yusupova, Translator, Regional Dialogue
At n the end of 2017, the Government of Uzbekistan defined further reform of the judicial and legal system as one of the key priorities of its new Program for 2018. And on February 7, 2018, the Supreme Court of the Republic of Uzbekistan hosted a round-table meeting to discuss reforms in the judicial and legal sphere along with the representatives of other international organizations and diplomatic missions, and the Supreme Court and Oliy Majlis (the Parliament) of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
That discussion and the implementation of reforms partly led to the visitors coming to Cameron County.
"It was very interesting and exciting to have played a part in the modernization of that country's legal system," Sorola said after the visitors left. "The now go to Austin to visit the Legislature and meet with some of our elected officials to see how laws are made."