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Abstract
The state of places of detention reflects the civilizational characteristics of the state, and the reform of the prison system under the influence of legal concepts that are not characteristic of society leads to the emergence of syncretic types of penitentiary institutions. The evolution of the Khiva zindans under the influence of the Russian Empire has not yet been studied, including with due regard for the alternative of the British protectorate, the voluntary establishment of which was planned by the Khan of Khiva in 1872. The purpose of this study is, using the example of the zindan-pit located on the territory of the historical and architectural complex of Ichan-Kala (Khiva, Republic of Uzbekistan), to consider the cultural and legal contradictions between the Russian Empire and Khorezm in the mid-19th and early 20th centuries, as well as to analyze the process of transformation of the places of detention of the Khanate of Khiva under the influence of the Russian prison reform of 1879, in a comparative context with the Western European legal tradition and British colonial policy. The results of the study showed the similarity of the Khiva zindan-pit to the European oubliettes; however, the medieval inquisitorial practices of Western Europe were not typical of Khorezm. Under the protectorate, the spread of the Prison Reform of 1879 to the Khanate of Khiva led to a combination of Russian and Central Asian penitentiary traditions, with the gradual abandonment of cruel punishments, which led to the transition to a continental legal system that replaced Sharia law during the Soviet period. This happened in a short time, unlike the penal reforms in the colonies of Great Britain, where numerous, sometimes contradictory, acts were created within the framework of the Anglo-Saxon legal system, and the British authorities used the local tradition of cruel punishments to strengthen their influence
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