A Swiss federal court abruptly dismissed money laundering and bribery charges against the imprisoned daughter of a former Uzbek president on Tuesday after Uzbek authorities confirmed she would not be released to attend the proceedings before the statute of limitations runs out, the Associated Press reported.

Just one day after her highly anticipated trial opened, the presiding judge in Bellinzona dismissed all charges against Gulnara Karimova after Uzbek authorities indicated she would remain imprisoned until her sentence there is completed in December 2028, too late for the Swiss charges to proceed before they lapse, according to the AP. Her defense lawyer, Grégoire Mangeat, had said Monday that Karimova was being prevented from leaving the prison colony where she is detained to attend the trial, and had vowed to seek her full acquittal.

The collapse of the case against Karimova herself closes one chapter in a years-long international legal pursuit of the eldest daughter of the late Uzbek leader Islam Karimov, who ruled Uzbekistan with an iron fist for more than 25 years until his death in 2016. Karimova served as Uzbekistan’s permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva between 2008 and 2013, benefiting from diplomatic immunity during that period, and had held ministerial positions in the Uzbek government, SWI swissinfo.ch noted. 

Swiss prosecutors had accused Karimova of developing and running a crime ring known as “The Office,” involving several dozen people and multiple companies, AP reported. 

Prosecutors had accused her of opening more than 30 bank accounts through strawmen to launder hundreds of millions of dollars in illicit proceeds, primarily tied to bribes from telecommunications companies seeking access to the Uzbek market, swissinfo.ch said. 

The trial will continue against Geneva-based private bank Lombard Odier and a former employee over allegations that they played a “decisive role” in concealing the proceeds of the crime ring’s activities, AP reported. 

Lombard Odier has said the charges against it center on alleged organizational shortcomings in its anti-money-laundering prevention measures rather than any knowing participation in wrongdoing, and said it would contest the allegations in court, the AP said. The former employee is separately accused of opening nine accounts between 2008 and 2012 and listing false beneficial owners that reportedly accounted for 90 percent of his portfolio, amounting to CHF 470 million ($599 million), swissinfo.ch said. 

Karimova was first convicted in Uzbekistan in 2015 and was initially ordered to serve her sentence at her daughter’s home, but a 2019 court ruling placed her behind bars after she violated the terms of her confinement, AP reported. She is now serving a 13-year sentence for organizing a criminal group, extortion, and embezzlement.