He was sentenced to 10 years in prison in March 2010 on false drug charges that members of his church insist are fabricated. Appeals against the sentence in the Supreme Court were rejected.
A local Christian, Gleb Serin, told Forum 18 that "Tohar was granted amnesty for his good behavior and because he had already served more than half of his prison sentence".
Released but not acquitted - just like Pastor Nurliev and Kashkumbaev
The Uzbek authorities' treatment of Tohar Haydarov is very similar to the Turkmen authorities' treatment of the convert and prisoner of conscience, Pastor Ilmurad Nurliev and the Kazakh authorities' treatment of converts and prisoners of conscience Pastor Kashkumbaev . Both were released early, in 2012 and 2014 respectively, but were not acquitted. According to the legal system, they were still guilty and had to fulfill a number of conditions after their release, such as not traveling outside their region.
Read: Breaking: Convert Kashkumbaev released - but found guilty...
Read: Pastor Ilmurad: Letters let me know I was not forgotten
Tohar's brother Andrey Serin notes that it is not yet known what conditions will be attached to his release, as it has not yet been written into his new international passport. "But he was told verbally when he was released that he shouldn't get into trouble and go back to prison," Serin added. "We will wait and see after he gets his passport". Local Christians say that "the attitude towards Christians in Uzbekistan is unchanged. Therefore, it is possible that Tohar will experience problems. We will continue to pray for Tohar".
Thank you to everyone who has written to Tohar
Many thanks to everyone who wrote letters of encouragement to Tohar. "God hears the prayers of many Christians," said local Christians. "We are grateful to everyone who prayed for him and sent him letters while he was in prison."
As well as encouraging Tohar, the letters showed the authorities that many people around the world knew Tohar, which may have contributed to him being released from strenuous physical labor in prison - and now, thankfully, being released early.
Let us continue to pray for Tohar, now that he is out in the open, that he will psychologically recover from his imprisonment and have a good normal life.
