Gulnara Karimova, the disgraced and imprisoned daughter of the late Uzbek president Islam Karimov, enjoys special treatment and privileges in a Tashkent prison, a former inmate has claimed in an interview with well-known Uzbek blogger Kirill Altman.

The 52-year-old, convicted of charges including embezzlement and money laundering that provided the corrupt means for luxury homes owned across Europe and Asia, does not eat with others in the prison canteen but instead has food delivered to her from outside of the prison, the former inmate was reported as saying. “She gets her food delivered…when there is nobody around,” the woman added. “It’s not an ordinary parcel of some 10 kilos, it’s much bigger.”

Karimova is serving a 13-year jail term she was handed in 2020 at a penitentiary in the Zangiota district of Tashkent region.

“She has four beds that she has separated with sheets from the others in the cell [to give her privacy],” the ex-prisoner, who spoke on condition of anonymity, added. She continued: “[Gulnara] wears a uniform that is similar to other inmates’ uniforms, but hers are made from more breathable fabrics. She also wears shoes with laces, even though shoelaces are not allowed in prison.”

The former inmate was also reported as saying that Karimova “doesn’t obey the rules” but “is not punished”.

She added: “There are some claims that she gets bullied [in prison] but… nobody bullies her. In fact, it’s her who provokes [conflicts]. [Prison authorities] make a lot of concessions to her that others don’t get.”

Karimova, she asserted, often “gets whatever she wants”.

“Once she wanted to meet another inmate [from a different part of the prison compound]. She went to the guards and became hysterical. The guards then brought that inmate and the two women went for a walk for about an hour. It’s a kind of VIP treatment. If anyone else would try that, she would be punished,” the woman claimed.

While building up massive corrupt wealth in the world of business, Karimova also served as Tashkent’s permanent representative to the UN in Geneva in 2008, and was made Uzbek ambassador to Spain in 2010.

She’s also remembered for her attempts at making a name for herself in the worlds of glamour and celebrity. She released pop songs under the stage name Googoosha and designed jewellery.

At one point she was spoken of as the likely successor to her president father. But she vanished from public view in 2014. There were reports that she had fallen out with her father, who was president from 1989 until his death in 2016.

Karimova still faces a range of criminal charges in the United States, Switzerland and other countries in relation to alleged illegal business practices.

In the interview with the blogger, the former inmate also alleged that Karimova once began a “rebellion” in the prison, but did not specify what is meant to have happened.

RFE/RL’s Uzbek Service, meanwhile, has reported one employee of the prison as claiming that Karimova and her “behaviour” and “provocations” have created a headache for prison officials.

"The prison administration has several times had to appeal to high-placed authorities about Gulnara Karimova’s behaviour and the provocations she staged against other inmates,” the employee was quoted as saying, adding: “On one hand, we are instructed to be cautious in handling her. On the other hand, we were told: ‘Don’t give her any special treatment.”