THE LEGAL INVISIBILITY OF CYBERSTALKING IN UZBEKISTAN: AN ANALYSIS OF JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Abstract

The article analyzes ten court decisions in 2024 regarding cases where the offender’s behavior revealed signs of systematic digital harassment (cyber harassment). Drawing on feminist legal theory (MacKannon, Smart) and the concept of technologically driven gender-based violence (TFGBV), the authors identify a mechanism for the legal invisibility of violence: digital communication channels are consistently considered by courts as evidence of other offenses, but not as an independent form of violence. The key criminological finding of the study is the establishment of the fact that in 70% of the cases reviewed, the victims were minor girls, yet their age did not lead to any special legal consequences in any of the court decisions. Analysis of judicial practice has shown that the digital context of the act’s commission does not affect either its legal classification or the amount of the imposed sanction. Based on the obtained empirical data, a set of recommendations was proposed, including the introduction of an independent prosecution composition into the Criminal Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the establishment of a gender qualification criterion, strengthening the legal protection of minor victims, as well as improving judicial practice for this category of cases. The relevance of the study is further determined by the adoption of the Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan No. UP-33 dated March 3, 2026, which sets the task of developing legal liability measures for stalking and cyberviolence