A protest rally that began in Khorog, the capital of the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO), yesterday afternoon is going on today as well.  The rally participants stayed overnight in the square.

Recall, residents of Khorog and nearby villages gathered outside the Khorog city administration yesterday afternoon after the killing of a resident of Roshtqala district by security forces. 

Khorog Mayor Rizo Nazarzoda told Asia-Plus in a short telephone conversation today morning that the situation in the city is calm.

“Everything is calm, don't worry!  People are caught up in their own things,” Nazarzoda said. 

Asked whether the rally is still going on, the mayor did not give a specific answer.  

Meanwhile, some sources say residents of other districts of the region are continuing to arrive in Khorog and today the number of protesters reached about 3,000.  

So far, no one from the authorities has come out to the protesters.

GBAO governor Alisher Mirzonabot yesterday received representatives of the rally participants.  He reportedly told them that he was in Murgab district and was not aware of plans to detain Gulbiddin Ziyobekov.  

One of those who met with GBAO governor told Asia-Plus that Mirzonabot promised to carry out within the next two-three months a thorough investigation into the incident and the fact of yesterday’s shooting in the square that resulted in killing two persons and wounding six others. 

Meanwhile, representatives of protesters “We already know who detained Gulbiddin and who opened fire at people in the square.  The investigation will not take more than ten days, and therefore, we demand the arrest of those guilty and through investigation into the incident.” 

 

The following are the demands of the protesters:

\1.         To investigate the case of the killing of Gulbiddin Ziyobekov and the case of those who shot at peaceful peal people as soon as possible.

2.         To withdraw 60-70 percent of servicemen that were brought to Khorog and replace them with residents of the region.

3.         To remove roadblocks in Khorog.

4.         To replace GBAO governor.

5.         To restore internet connection.

 

Recall, the incident took place on the morning of November 25.  The GBAO prosecutor’s office confirmed that in the village of Tavdem in GBAO’s Roshtqala district, an operation was carried out by law enforcement agencies to capture Gulbiddin Ziyobekov, who was wanted on charges of taking hostages and inciting ethnic hatred.  “During the operation, he put up armed resistance and began firing from a Makarov pistol, which he possessed illegally.  The offender was wounded by return fire,” the message says.

Some eyewitnesses of the events claim that Gulbiddin Ziyobekov was shot in the head and died on the way from Roshtqala to Khorog.

A local official, on condition of anonymity, said that Ziyobekov should have been detained in connection with the beating of an employee of the prosecutor’s office in 2020. The prosecutor’s office claims that “Ziyobekov and several other young people took hostage the assistant prosecutor of the Roshtqala region A. Abirzoda on February 1, 2020, and tortured and beat him for eight hours.”  Ziyobekov, according to local authorities, did not come to testify in this case.

According to one of the residents of the Roshtqala district Ziyobekov and other young guys beat the prosecutor’s office officer Abirzoda for offering an intimate relationship to a local young woman.