An investigation into a knife brawl between teenagers in Dushanbe is nearing completion, according to the Prosecutor’s General Office.

Two teens – the 19-year-old Ibrohim Khojayev and the 18-year-old Somon Sharipov -- were stabbed to death in a mass brawl that occurred between teenagers of Dushanbe’s 102nd and 103rd neighborhoods on January 2, 2017. 

In all, 20 teenagers were detained, including school students.  Criminal proceedings have reportedly been instituted against 13 persons under the provisions of Article 104 of Tajikistan’s Penal Code – murder.  

In March, the investigation into the incident was extended for two months.  “The investigation has to establish which of teens were armed with bats, which of them were armed with knives and which of them were armed with iron sticks and to determine a role of each of them in the brawl,” an official source at the Prosecutor’s General Office told Asia-Plus in an interview.