Last year, 112 criminal proceedings were instituted against Khatlon officials over illegal allotment of lands, according to the Khatlon chief prosecutor’s office.  

The biggest of those cases are criminal proceedings instituted against ex-mayor of Kulob Bahrom Inoyatzoda and first deputy head of Yovon district Askar Nabizoda. 

Last year, prosecutor reportedly canceled 272 decisions of heads of districts and cities of the province.  85 percent of those decisions concerned the allocation of lands.  

Recall, Tajik Prosecutor-General Yusuf Rahmon told reporters in Dushanbe on February 2 that 296 officials were persecuted last year for illegal allotment of lands. 

“22 representatives of local authorities, 27 officials of subdivisions of the State Committee for Land Management and Geodesy, 49 representatives of the real estate registration bodies, 43 heads of jamoats, 77 land surveyors and 77 heads of dehqon (peasant) farms were persecuted last year for illegal allotment of lands,” Yusuf Rahmon noted. 

He further stressed that there is almost no city or region left in the country where laws concerning allotment of lands are not violated last year. 

“In 2020, about 9,000 hectares of lands that had been illegally allotted to citizens were returned to the state,” Tajik chief prosecutor added. 

In Tajikistan, laws ban the private sale of land.  Agricultural land can only be leased from the state.  People can also receive a plot of land -- free of charge -- from their local government to build a home.