The key facts

  • The appellate instance left the 8-year punishment unchanged but made it suspended with a 3-year probation period.
  • The court took into account partial compensation of damages: cash deposited into a deposit account, transfer of property to the bank's balance sheet, and sale of seized property.
  • The court did not disclose the amount of compensated damages or the decisions regarding the other six convicted persons.

The appeal changed the punishment

On 12 October, the Namangan regional court heard in appellate procedure the case of Odilkhon Ismoilov, founder of the Rayhon cafe chain and former imam-khatib of Tashkent mosques. This was reported by the press service of the courts of Namangan region. By the verdict of the Pop district criminal court dated 13 July 2026, Ismoilov was found guilty under a number of articles of the Criminal Code, including subparagraph «a» of part 3 of Article 167 (embezzlement through appropriation or squandering on a large scale), as well as official forgery, seizure or destruction of documents, manufacture and use of forged documents, and was sentenced to eight years of imprisonment. Taking into account the time of detention and custody or house arrest, the final term amounted to 7 years 11 months 28 days.

Grounds for mitigation

The appellate instance took into account that part of the inflicted damage was paid in cash into a deposit account. In addition, the transfer of property belonging to Ismoilov to the bank's balance sheet at the bank's request is provided for, and the seized property is subject to sale with the proceeds directed to compensation of the damage. The court also took into account that property belonging to the convicted person himself and his close relatives is being used to repay the damage. Taking these circumstances into account, the punishment under Article 167 was left unchanged, but on the basis of Article 72 of the Criminal Code (suspended sentence) it was made suspended with a three-year probation period. After the ruling was announced, Ismoilov was released from custody directly in the courtroom.

The case and the other defendants

Ismoilov and several other people were detained in January 2026 on charges of embezzlement, sham entrepreneurship, tax evasion, violation of trade rules, official forgery and document forgery. Under the first-instance verdict, besides Ismoilov, six more people were convicted, receiving various prison terms depending on their role and the nature of the crimes; the damage was recovered from the convicted persons on a joint and several basis. The court's report does not disclose the amount of compensated damage and does not state what decisions the appeal made regarding the other six convicted persons.

Previous career

Before his entrepreneurial activity, Odilkhon Ismoilov, born in 1977, a native of Namangan region, held positions in the religious sphere. From 2010 he was deputy chief imam-khatib of Tashkent, and from 2011 to July 2018 — chief imam-khatib of the Shaykhantahur district and imam-khatib of the Shaykh Zayniddin mosque. In July 2018, the Muslim Board announced his release from the post «due to the dissemination of unverified information on the internet and his inability to perform duties for health reasons». From 2019 he worked at the charitable public foundation «Vaqf»: in February 2019 he was appointed imam-khatib of the Khoja Alambardor mosque, and in September of the same year he left the post at his own request due to health problems.