Uzbek man in 2009 taxi murder case granted retrial after 16 years
Uzbek national Bozorov Akmal, left, embraces his father outside Changwon prison in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, Thursday, after being released following a court’s decision granting retrial. Yonhap
Court rules police officers abused authority, violated Akmal's rights
An Uzbek man who spent more than 16 years behind bars serving a life sentence for robbery-murder and other charges was released Thursday after a court granted him a retrial, citing serious problems with the police investigation that led to his conviction.
Bozorov Akmal, 37, walked out of Changwon Prison Thursday evening, after the Changwon District Court suspended the enforcement of his sentence pending a final ruling in the retrial. He tearfully reunited with his father, who was waiting outside the prison.
“I have suffered greatly, feeling that I was wrongfully imprisoned. But at the same time, I am truly sorry for the great pain this could cause the victim’s family,” said Akmal. “I will speak truthfully throughout the remaining court proceedings.”
The case dates back to March 24, 2009, when a taxi driver in his 50s was found murdered inside a taxi parked in an alley in Myeongseo-dong, Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province. On July 6 that year, police arrested three people, including Akmal, then 19, in connection with a separate taxi robbery. Police subsequently identified Akmal as the primary suspect in the March murder.
Akmal initially confessed during police questioning but later claimed that his confession had been coerced through police brutality and an unlawful investigation. He acknowledged involvement in the July 2009 taxi robbery but denied any connection to the taxi driver’s murder in March. Yet he was indicted on charges for the murder case, and the Supreme Court upheld his life sentence in April 2010.
He first filed a petition for a retrial in July 2015 but it was rejected. On Jan. 2, 2025, he filed a new petition with the Changwon court through lawyer Park Jun-young, who specializes in retrial cases.
The court ruled that the police officers from the Changwon Jungbu Police Station who investigated the case had abused their authority and violated Akmal’s rights. According to the court's decision, investigators falsely told Akmal that his DNA had been found at the scene, allegedly deceived him by claiming that the victim, who was already dead, was still alive, in order to elicit a confession. The court also criticized the police for deliberately failing to provide an interpreter as well, despite Akmal’s limited Korean proficiency.
Akmal’s lawyer, Park, presented new evidence, including an allegedly fabricated police report on the shop that sold the suspected murder weapon. Park also pointed to a six-kilometer discrepancy between the distance recorded by the taxi’s meter and the route identified by police.
The court said the unlawful investigation provided sufficient grounds to reopen the case, adding that the new evidence should be assessed by the court conducting the retrial.
“There were numerous inconsistencies between the false confession and the objective, scientific evidence,” Park said. “During the retrial proceedings, we will thoroughly examine the problems with the investigation.”