The mother of Gulbiddin Ziyobekov, who was killed by security officers in Roshtqala district of the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) on November 25, intends to get a meeting with President Emomali Rahmon.  

Pevistamo Abdulmuminova told Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service, known locally as Radio Ozodi, in an interview on December 1 that the GBAO authorities did not consider her application, and therefore, she decided to appeal to the president.

“I swear to God, I swear to the memory of my lost son that he had no weapon.  He did not serve in the army and didn't know how to shoot a pistol.  My son never smoked in his life, never hurt anyone,” the woman said.  

Pevistamo Abdulmuminova says that over ten months after the prosecutor’s office employee was taken hostage, her son had never been invited to testify.

She is also outraged that the security officers had the opportunity to detain Gulbiddin but they shot him.  

Eyewitnesses also say that during the special operation to detain him, Gulbiddin Ziyobekov had no weapon.   

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,” says a statement released by the GABO prosecutor’s office.

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

Several thousand people occupied a central square in Khorog, the capita of the GBAO, on November 25 in a demand for justice. the protesters put forward the following demands: 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; and 5) to restore internet connection.

Hundreds gathered outside the Tajik Embassy in Moscow the same day evening. 

On November 27, members of the Pamiri community picketed the offices of the United Nations in Dushanbe, but that rally was quickly broken up by police.

A four-day protest rally in Khorog ended November 28 afternoon after several hours of negotiations between the government officials and representatives of the protesters

A person, who participated in negotiations with the government officials, told Asia-Plus on November 29 on the basis of anonymity that the authorities have promised to withdraw military personnel from traffic police checkpoints who have been in the region since 2018, remove additional checkpoints that were set up in the city after the tensions began and restore access to Internet.

However, access to Internet has not yet been restored in the region and other promises have also not been kept.  

A resident of Roshtqala district, on condition of anonymity, said that Ziyobekov should have been detained in connection with the beating of an employee of the Roshtqala 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, forcing him to issue an apology to camera..

The investigation was halted at the instigation of then-GBAO governor Yodgor Fayzov, who mediated a way out of the impasse.  Fayzov was removed from the post earlier this month.  His dismissal appears to have triggered a renewed effort to arrest Ziyobekov,