Tragic news came from Khujand, the capital of the northern Sughd province.  78-year-old Mayram Nabiyeva, the widow of the first President of Tajikistan Rahmon Nabiyev, died yesterday afternoon after being poisoned by charcoal fume caused by a house fire.  

Mrs. Nabiyeva lived in the house built by her relatives back in the second half of the last century. The widow of the first President of Tajikistan, as earlier, first Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Tajik SSR, reportedly led a lonely life.  

According to local law enforcement agencies, passers-by yesterday afternoon noticed smoke and flames in a house on the Aminjon Shukuhi Street and called firefighters.  According to the Sughd fire department, they received call at 1:10 pm.  Arrived on the scene firefighters have localized the fire, and then found the lifeless body of Mayram Nabiyeva.

According to the medical examination conclusion, the elderly woman died from carbon monoxide poisoning.

According to the preliminary examination, the fire occurred due to faulty electrical device.

Rahmon Nabiyev (October 5, 1930 – April 11, 1993) served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic Tajikistan and twice as the President of Tajikistan.

Nabiyev ascended to power in 1982 as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Tajik SSR.  In 1985 he was ousted in a corruption scandal.

After Tajik leaders declared the independence of the Republic of Tajikistan in September 1991, Nabiyev orchestrated his way back into power on September 23, only to step down on October 6 as pressure mounted for him to vacate the office during the campaign for the presidential elections.  Nabiyev won the elections and on December 2, 1991 he became the first elected President of Tajikistan.

Opposition street demonstrations that took place in May 1992 developed into a civil war in May 1992.  Nabiyev resigned office in September 1992.  Rahmon Nabiyev died on April 11, 1993.  Officially, he died of a heart attack.