BIOGRAPHIC INFORMATION ON ALISHER OZATOVICH

UNCLAS TASHKENT 000416 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PINR UZ SUBJECT: BIOGRAPHIC INFORMATION ON ALISHER OZATOVICH SHARAFUTDINOV ¶1. (SBU) On March 28, 2008, President Karimov appointed Alisher Ozatovich Sharafutdinov, who previously served as Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, as Deputy Procurator-General of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Sharafutdinov, an ethnic Uzbek, was born in 1958 in Tashkent. In 1980, after graduation from the Tashkent State University,s Law Department, he began his career as an Investigator in the Office of the Procurator of Sobir-Rakhimov District in Tashkent. He then served successively as Investigator and Chief of the Investigation Section in the Department of Internal Affairs of Tashkent City; Senior Investigator for Very Important Cases, Chief of Sub-Section and Deputy Chief of the Section for Methodological Control in the Investigation Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs; Deputy Chief of the Investigation Department in the city of Tashkent,s Main Department of Internal Affairs; Deputy Chief of the Department of Internal Affairs of Namangan Region; and Chief of the Main Investigation Department in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Uzbekistan. ¶2. (SBU) Between 2005 and 2006, Sharafutdinov served as Deputy Minister-Chief of the Service on Personnel in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. From 2006 until March 28, 2008, he served as Deputy Minister - Chief of the Main Investigation Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Uzbekistan. On March 28, 2008, President Karimov appointed Alisher Ozatovich Sharafutdinov as Deputy Procurator-General of Uzbekistan. Comment: Sharafutdinov was seen at the Ministry of Internal Affairs as someone with reformist instincts, who has the potential to develop more positive relations, with human rights groups and others seeking assistance, than his predecessors. It remains to be seen whether he keeps this reputation in his new job. NORLAND