Criminal case termination and reconciliation

A criminal case may end without a conviction on rehabilitating or non-rehabilitating grounds. Reconciliation is only one route: it is available solely for offences listed in Article 66¹ of the Criminal Code and requires an admission of guilt, reconciliation and redress. Limitation, amnesty, active repentance, special compensation rules and the absence of a required complaint have different conditions.

In brief:

• Article 66 of the Criminal Code governs active repentance, while Article 66¹ governs reconciliation.
• Paying compensation by itself ends a case only when the law expressly gives it that effect or all conditions for reconciliation or active repentance are met.
• The absence of a required victim complaint is a separate ground; withdrawing a complaint already filed does not automatically end every case.
• Limitation and amnesty usually do not rehabilitate the person, although exemption from criminal liability does not create a conviction record.
• The key choice is to check both the availability and the ground for termination: the ground determines whether the person is rehabilitated and what information remains in the case materials.

Updated: 05 September 2026

What grounds can end a criminal case

The first distinction is between rehabilitation and termination without deciding guilt. A person is declared innocent and must be rehabilitated if there was no criminal event, the conduct contains no elements of an offence, or the person was not involved. These three grounds (Article 83 CPC) entitle the person to seek removal of the consequences of unlawful prosecution.

The law separately provides non-rehabilitating grounds (Article 84 CPC). They end proceedings without declaring the person innocent. The group includes reconciliation, amnesty, limitation and other statutory cases.

In addition, with the person’s consent, a case may end if changed circumstances mean that the act or the person is no longer socially dangerous, if the general active-repentance conditions are met, or if materials concerning a child’s first act should be transferred to the commission on children’s issues. A separate procedure under Chapter 61 of the CPC applies if a mental disorder arising after the offence prevents the person from understanding or controlling their actions.

For limitation, amnesty, death and a special ground in the Special Part, the accused or defendant may insist that the case continue; close relatives may do so for a deceased person. If grounds for conviction are then established, the court delivers a guilty judgment without imposing punishment. Consent to termination should therefore not be treated as a formality.

When reconciliation with the victim is available

Reconciliation is available when the suspect, accused or defendant has admitted guilt, reconciled with the victim and redressed the harm. All three conditions (Article 66¹ CC) must exist together. A person with an unexpunged or unremoved conviction for a serious or especially serious offence cannot use this ground.

The list in Article 66¹ is exhaustive: a court cannot add a similar offence by analogy. The current text covers the following groups of offences.

The Plenum of the Supreme Court confirms that the list is exhaustive. Legal classification is decisive: if the court identifies elements of a more serious offence outside the list, the case is returned to the prosecutor and proceeds under the ordinary rules.

How termination through reconciliation works

Reconciliation is documented in a written application from the victim or civil claimant, or their legal representative. It may be filed during inquiry, pre-trial investigation or trial, but only before the court retires to deliberate. For family or domestic violence, the application is allowed only during the trial. This time and form (Article 583 CPC) is mandatory.

The application states that the harm has been redressed and asks for the case to end because of reconciliation. If there are several victims, reconciliation with every victim is required. A victim may voluntarily waive monetary compensation, but the waiver must be clear; the court checks whether it resulted from pressure. The victim may withdraw the application before the court retires, but after reconciliation is approved the victim cannot seek reopening on that ground.

A short procedural sequence follows. With the consent of the suspect or accused, the inquiry officer or investigator sends the materials to the prosecutor within seven days (Article 584 CPC). If the prosecutor agrees, the case is sent to court within three days. The court holds the hearing within ten days (Article 585 CPC) after receiving the materials.

The court hears the participants and checks voluntariness, admission of guilt, understanding of the consequences, absence of pressure, actual redress and the consent of everyone whose consent is required. If there are several accused persons, reconciliation may be approved for one of them separately and the relevant materials severed. If reconciliation is involuntary, the harm has not been redressed or a more serious offence appears, the court does not terminate the proceedings and returns the case to the prosecutor.

What active repentance means

Active repentance is an independent ground, not another name for reconciliation. Under the general rule (Article 66 CC), the person must have committed for the first time an offence posing no major danger to society or a less serious offence, surrendered, sincerely repented, actively assisted in solving the offence and made good the harm. If these general conditions are met, exemption is possible, but the statutory wording leaves the assessment to the competent authority or court.

Surrender has a narrow procedural meaning. It is a voluntary report of one’s own offence by a person who has not yet been recognised as a suspect or charged as an accused, and the statement is recorded in a protocol. This definition of surrender (Article 113 CPC) means that a later confession in an existing case does not always replace surrender.

A different structure applies when a specific provision in the Special Part of the Criminal Code expressly grants exemption after named actions. Point 8 of Part 1 of Article 84 CPC then provides for termination because of active repentance, compensation for material harm and/or removal of the consequences within the prescribed period. Every condition must be checked against the exact Criminal Code provision used to classify the conduct.

When compensation ends the case

Compensation does not create a universal right to termination. It may form part of reconciliation, be one element of general active repentance, or be a mandatory condition in a special provision of the Criminal Code. Payment may also affect punishment even where no separate termination ground exists, but that is a different legal result.

Examples of special grounds show why saying only “the loss was paid” is inadequate.

Evidence must establish both the transfer of money and all other conditions: whether it is a first offence, who suffered the loss, whether mandatory charges were fully covered, whether consequences were removed and whether the special deadline was met. Reconciliation additionally requires the victim’s application, an admission of guilt and a court decision.

How a case ends under amnesty

Amnesty is neither automatic nor based on a general promise to forgive a class of cases. The specific instrument must be read first: it defines the people and offences covered, exclusions and conditions. It applies to acts committed before it entered into force, and the decision is individual. This amnesty procedure is explained by the Plenum of the Supreme Court.

At the pre-trial stage, a court decides refusal to initiate or termination under an amnesty on the prosecutor’s application. The prosecutor sends an approved application within five days (Article 589 CPC) after receiving the materials. The court considers it within ten days (Article 590 CPC); the prosecutor must participate, and an order releasing a person from detention or house arrest is enforced immediately.

An admission of guilt is not itself an amnesty condition. The case cannot, however, be terminated through the simplified procedure against the objection of the accused or defendant: proceedings then continue, and the court may acquit the person or, if grounds exist, deliver a guilty judgment without punishment. A civil claim is left without consideration when a case ends under amnesty, but the victim retains the right to bring it in civil proceedings.

How limitation periods work

The limitation period depends on the category of offence. It runs from the date of the act until the judgment becomes final. The current limitation periods (Article 64 CC) are:

If a person hides from the investigation or the court after being charged as an accused, time is suspended and resumes on arrest or surrender. A new intentional serious offence committed before expiry interrupts time only in the case specified by the provision; otherwise, the period for each offence is calculated independently.

The absolute limit is 10 years for offences in the first two categories and 25 years for serious or especially serious offences. If life imprisonment is possible, the court decides whether to apply limitation; if it refuses, life imprisonment is replaced by imprisonment for a term. Limitation does not apply to the offences against peace and security, the Republic of Uzbekistan and the constitutional order enumerated in Article 64.

What happens in cases requiring a victim complaint

The CPC identifies cases initiated only on a victim’s complaint asking that the offender be prosecuted. The current list of offences (Article 325 CPC) includes Part 1 of Article 105, Article 109, Part 1 of Article 110, Article 111, Part 1 of Articles 118, 119 and 121, Article 136, Parts 1–2 of Articles 139 and 140, Part 1 of Article 141¹, Article 141³, and Articles 149 and 149¹ of the Criminal Code.

Without a complaint, a case concerning these offences should not begin, and the absence of the required complaint is a termination ground under point 6 of Part 1 of Article 84 CPC. An exception applies where the victim cannot protect their rights because of helplessness, dependence on the accused or another reason: the prosecutor must then initiate the case without a complaint.

For Articles 167, 170, 172 and 173 of the Criminal Code, where an employee acts against a legal entity with no state share in its charter capital, an application is required from the head, owner or authorised management body of that legal entity.

The absence of a complaint must be distinguished from a later refusal to pursue the accusation. Article 84 expressly names the absence of a required complaint but creates no universal automatic termination after an existing complaint is withdrawn. The practical conclusion from Articles 84 and 325 CPC is that, where the applicable offence is also listed in Article 66¹ CC, the procedural route is written reconciliation under Chapter 62 CPC. In other cases, a letter stating “I have no claims” may not end the case, particularly where the prosecutor exception applies.

What happens to seizure, evidence and the civil claim

Termination must be recorded in a reasoned decision or court ruling, not an oral promise. The decision states the charge, legal classification, evidence and termination ground, while its operative part addresses the preventive measure, seizure of property, physical evidence and security for the civil claim. This required content (Article 374 CPC) makes it possible to check what has been cancelled and what remains to be performed.

After termination, seizure of property must be cancelled and its entry removed from the pledge register. This direct consequence (Article 295 CPC) still needs to be stated and implemented for the particular property. If the person is in custody and a release decision arrives, the head of the detention facility must release the person immediately (Article 54 of the Detention Law).

Termination does not always extinguish the victim’s compensation claim. On the non-rehabilitating grounds in Article 84, the civil claim is generally left without consideration and the right to sue in civil proceedings is explained. This civil-claim rule appears in the guidance of the Plenum of the Supreme Court.

The treatment of procedural costs depends on the ground and final decision. The CPC expressly assigns costs to the state after acquittal or rehabilitating termination, but does not state the same automatic rule for every non-rehabilitating ground. Recovery of costs (Article 320 CPC) may separately be ordered against a convicted person released from punishment or convicted without punishment being imposed. The Plenum of the Supreme Court explains that costs may also be imposed on a person whose case ended through reconciliation, amnesty or compulsory medical measures; the costs paragraph in the operative part must therefore be checked against the judicial guidance.

What remains on record after termination

Non-rehabilitating termination does not create a conviction record, but it does not erase the history of the proceedings. A person released by the court from punishment is not treated as convicted; the Plenum of the Supreme Court likewise states that people exempted from criminal liability because of limitation, changed circumstances, active repentance, reconciliation or amnesty have no conviction (Articles 64–68 CC).

At the same time, termination because of limitation, amnesty, lack of complaint, being below the age of liability, or a special repentance or compensation provision is non-rehabilitating. It does not create a right to restoration and payments intended for a person prosecuted unlawfully. This difference in consequences is confirmed by the Plenum of the Supreme Court.

The case materials and final decision leave a documentary trace: who was prosecuted, the charge, its legal classification and the ground on which proceedings ended. Retention periods and access are governed by record-management and registration rules, not by the rule that no conviction exists. The accurate statement is therefore “there is no conviction”, not “the information disappears everywhere”.

For some forms of service, the fact of earlier termination has separate significance. For example, the law governing the Presidential State Security Service treats earlier termination because of limitation, reconciliation, amnesty, pardon or another exemption ground as a special restriction (Article 27 of the Law), even without a conviction. This is not a general restriction on all employment, but an example of why the special law governing a particular position, licence or clearance must be checked.

How to challenge termination and whether it can be reopened

Participants must be notified of termination and told how to challenge it. An investigator’s decision is challenged before the head of the investigation unit and supervising prosecutor, while a prosecutor’s decision goes to the higher prosecutor. This complaint procedure (Article 358 CPC) can be used to contest a refusal to terminate or the selected ground if it affects the person’s rights.

Where the law permits an interlocutory complaint against a first-instance court ruling, the general period is ten days (Article 497¹¹ CPC). Rulings on reconciliation and amnesty expressly permit an interlocutory complaint by participants and an interlocutory protest by the prosecutor. The eligible applicant and the starting point for the period must be checked for the particular ruling.

A terminated charge can still be reopened in defined cases. It may be reopened if termination resulted from an error in applying the Criminal Code or CPC, or if new evidence of guilt appears. Reopening is generally allowed within limitation (Article 363 CPC); the special rule also covers termination caused by an offence against justice or the falsification, concealment or destruction of evidence.

What changed in 2026

The reviewed body of law did not replace the grounds of reconciliation, limitation, amnesty or active repentance with a new general procedure. A law was, however, adopted on the related subject of compensation for harm to a rehabilitated person.

• On 27 July 2026, Law ZRU-1161 amended Article 305 CPC: calculation of particular heads of loss is allocated among economic and financial bodies and the off-budget Pension Fund, while compensation is provided from the State Budget.
• The Law will enter into force six months later than its official publication. As of 5 September 2026, this is a future rule; it changes the compensation mechanism for rehabilitation but not the grounds for terminating a case.

What to check before consenting to termination

Before filing an application or consenting to termination, compare the procedural documents with the exact part of the Criminal Code provision. For reconciliation, the critical points are the legal classification, every victim’s participation, the contents of the written application, proof that harm was redressed, and the absence of a prior unexpunged or unremoved conviction for a serious or especially serious offence.

For active repentance, check whether the offence was committed for the first time, its category, whether surrender occurred before suspect status, how the person assisted the investigation, and whether the harm was fully made good. For a special exemption, prepare a separate checklist from the note or part of the provision: payee, full amount, mandatory charges, time limit and removal of consequences.

The draft final decision should expressly identify the termination ground and whether it is rehabilitating or non-rehabilitating, cancellation of the preventive measure and seizure, and the treatment of evidence, the civil claim and costs. Compare the application, payment documents and decision with each other: different wording may affect a later civil claim, special screening or the ability to challenge the result.

Frequently asked questions

Can a case end if the victim writes that they have no claims?

Not always. If the case could not be initiated without a complaint, the absence of that complaint may be a ground under point 6 of Part 1 of Article 84 CPC. Withdrawing a complaint already filed is not itself a universal ground. For an offence listed in Article 66¹ CC, formal written reconciliation, an admission of guilt, redress and judicial review of voluntariness are usually required.

How does reconciliation differ from active repentance?

Reconciliation (Article 66¹ CC) and active repentance (Article 66 CC) are governed by different provisions. For repentance, the offence must be a first offence in an eligible category; the person surrenders, repents, assists in solving it and makes good the harm. Reconciliation requires an offence on the exhaustive list, admission of guilt, reconciliation and redress.

Does full compensation end the case?

Only if the applicable provision expressly grants exemption after compensation and all of its conditions are met. Otherwise, payment is just one element of reconciliation or active repentance. The deadline, full amount, payee, first-offence condition, removal of consequences and need for a victim application must be checked. Without a special provision, payment may improve the person’s position but need not end the case.

Is there a conviction after reconciliation or amnesty?

No conviction arises: people exempted from criminal liability because of limitation, active repentance, reconciliation or amnesty are treated as having no conviction. Reconciliation and amnesty are nevertheless non-rehabilitating grounds. The decision and case materials remain, and special laws may take the earlier termination into account when screening a candidate for a particular service or clearance.

Can a person demand continuation instead of limitation-based termination?

Yes. If the accused or defendant insists, proceedings may continue under the ordinary rules despite expiry of the limitation period. This matters where the person seeks acquittal and rehabilitation. If grounds for conviction are established, the court may instead deliver a guilty judgment without imposing punishment, so the choice requires an assessment of the evidence and the consequences of the particular ground.