Uzbek President, Islam Karimov, died on Friday at the age of 78 after being hospitalized following a stroke on Aug. 27, the Uzbek government confirmed.
His funeral will be held on Saturday in the historic town of Samarkand, where he was born, a government statement said, adding that a three-day period of mourning would start on the same day.
Karimov, who had served as president of the newly independent republic since 1991, suffered a brain hemorrhage on Saturday.
On Sunday, the Uzbek government informed on its website that the late leader was taken to hospital for the need of a full medical examination.
On Monday, Karimov’s daughter Lola Karimova-Tillyayeva, confirmed on her Facebook page that her father has been hospitalized and asked people to pray for his health.
Earlier on Friday, the government said on its website that the situation of Karimov had worsened and he was in a critical condition.
Karimov, who was born 30 January 1938 in Samarkand ruled Uzbekistan, from 1990.
At birth in his hometown, he was placed in an orphanage. But he grew up to study economics and engineering.
He became an official in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, becoming the party’s First Secretary in Uzbekistan in 1989.
On 24 March 1990 he became President of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic.
Karimov’s election to the Uzbek Communist Party resulted after his predecessor Rafiq Nishonov failed to quell inter-ethnic clashes and instability in the Fergana Region.
He declared Uzbekistan an independent nation on 31 August 1991 and subsequently won its first presidential election on 29 December 1991, with 86% of the vote. The election was called unfair, with state-run propaganda and a falsified vote count.
