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Two officials of Garden Catering Trade LLC, whose non-custodial sentences for poisoning more than a hundred children at Fergana kindergartens drew public outrage, have been returned to custody after a cassation court overturned the original verdict and imposed fresh prison terms.
The criminal panel of the Fergana Regional Court, sitting as a cassation instance, annulled the part of a 21 September 2026 ruling by the Furqat District Court of First Instance that applied to the company’s director, identified as Sh.T., and its technologist, identified as R.A. In its place, the cassation bench issued a new conviction. Under Articles 59 and 61 of the Criminal Code — provisions governing the calculation and combination of sentences — the director was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment and the technologist to three years and six months.
From Courtroom Release to Custody
The September district-court ruling had drawn criticism after both defendants walked free in the courtroom: the judge had imposed corrective labour and a restriction of liberty rather than imprisonment, citing the defendants’ genuine remorse, their clean prior records, full compensation of harm caused to victims, and the absence of civil claims from victims’ legal representatives. The Fergana Regional Court’s information service confirmed that the cassation ruling supersedes that outcome entirely.
The mass poisoning occurred on 20 February 2026, when children at several state-run kindergartens in Fergana city fell ill after eating food supplied by the company. More than 105 children were affected. Beyond responsibility for the poisoning itself, the defendants were also found guilty of theft through embezzlement or misappropriation and document forgery.
What the Cassation Ruling Changes
Cassation review in Uzbekistan’s criminal procedure allows a higher court to examine whether lower courts correctly applied substantive and procedural law. By quashing the non-custodial portion of the September verdict and substituting custodial sentences, the Fergana Regional Court signalled that the gravity of the offences — compounded by the additional fraud and forgery counts — warranted incarceration despite the mitigating factors the district court had weighed. The defendants are now subject to enforcement of the new terms.