Former Secretary of Tajikistan’s High Economic Court, Bobojon Shirinov, who brutally killed his ex-wife, has appealed to the Supreme Court against the sentence passed on him by the Dushanbe City Court.   

Shirinov and his defense lawyer consider that the Dushanbe court’s verdict against him is unfair and too severe, an official source at the Supreme Court told Asia-Plus today morning.  

According to them, the Dushanbe court did not take into consideration that Shirinov committed the murder in the heat of passion, the source added.  

Recall, the Dushanbe city court has sentenced Bobojon Shirinov to 18 years in prison on November 1, 2018.  The sentence followed his conviction on charges of overkill (murder with special cruelty).  Shirinov will serve his term in a high-security penal colony.

The court's ruling is nearly identical to the prosecution's earlier demand for a 20-year prison term for Bobojon Shirinov.   

Bobojon Shirinov was arrested in June this year on suspicion of killing his former wife Mohira Yatimova. 

According to the Interior Ministry press center, the murder took place in Dushanbe’s Sino district in the evening of June 6.  

A 33-year-old Mohira Yatimova was reportedly taken to the city central hospital with multiple stab wounds the same day at 10:40 pm.  She died of sustained wounds.  

Her former husband, 33-year-old Bobojon Shirinov, was detained on suspicion of killing his former wife, the Interior Ministry press center said.   

Meanwhile, a source at the Interior Ministry says Bobojon Shirinov gave himself up to police station at insistence of his father Rajabali Shirinov.  He reportedly said he had inflicted stab wounds on his former wife following quarrel.    

Bobojon Shirinov and Mohira Yatimova got married in 2007 and divorced two years ago.  They reportedly had conflicts over their three children and property.  

Bobojon Shirinov is son of general Rajabali Shirinov, former deputy chief of the Agency for State Financial Control and Combating Corruption.  Rajabali Shirinov was relieved of his post as deputy chief of the anticorruption agency in February 2015.