DUSHANBE, January 6, 2014, Asia-Plus:

 

December 2                  - By ruling handed down by a court in Dushanbe’s Ismoili Somoni district the wife of Amonullo Hukumatullo, the chief of the Tajik state railway company, Tajik Railways, was fined 120.00 somoni (TJS) for violation of the parental responsibility law.  Three persons were killed and three others were seriously injured on October 9 as BMW crashed into VAZ- 21-04.  Rasoul Amonullo, the 16-year-old son of the chief of the Tajik state railway company, who was behind the wheel of BMW, is responsible for the deadly accident;

                                    - The 53-yer-old resident of the Shouroobod district, Abdulmajid Bukhoriyev, was detained on suspicion of having been involved in drug trafficking.  43.78 kilograms of cannabis were confiscated from him.

 

December 3                  - Tajik asylum seeker Ismon Azimov was abducted from the Center for temporary placement of immigrants in the Russian oblast of Tver.  According to Amnesty International (AI), Ismon Azimov is an applicant to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) appealing against his extradition to Tajikistan.  On April 18, the ECtHR reportedly stated that returning Ismon Azimov to Tajikistan would breach Article 3 (prohibition of torture) of the European Convention on Human Rights.  The Tajik authorities have accused Ismon Azimov of membership of Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) and requested his extradition from Russia due to his alleged involvement in military training and propaganda activities for the IMU in October 2007.  AI has repeatedly expressed concerns at the recurrence in recent years of incidents where Tajikistani asylum-seekers in Russia have been allegedly abducted and forcibly returned to Tajikistan.    

 

December 4                  - A consultative meeting on assessment studies for the Central Asia South Asia Electricity Trade and Transmission Project (CASA 1000) took place at the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources in Dushanbe.  Organized by the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources of Tajikistan under support of the Tajik Branch of the Regional Environmental Center for Central Asia (CAREC) and NGO Kuhiston (Tajikistan), the meeting reportedly discussed the preliminary report on the Regional Environmental Assessment (EA), the Social Impact Assessment, and the draft Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) for the CASA 1000 Project;

                                    - Andrei Volos, an ethnic Russian from Tajikistan, won the prestigious Russian Booker Prize.  Volos received the literary award -- given to works of fiction in the Russian language -- for his novel "Coming Back to Panjrud."  The book''s main character is Abu Abdollah Jafar ibn Mohammad Rudaki, a Tajik-Persian poet of the 10th century who is regarded as a founder of Persian classical literature.  Volos moved to Moscow in the late 1990s.  His poems and novels are mainly about the history and culture of Central Asia, especially Tajikistan. 

 

December 5                  - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved a $136 million grant, the largest single transaction ever provided by the institution to Tajikistan, for a project to increase supply of renewable energy to national and regional power systems.

 

December 10                - Some two dozen female protesters noisily disrupted a press conference of the Social-Democratic Party (SDP) to criticize its leader Rahmatillo Zoirov and heap praise on President Emomali Rahmon.  Journalists recognized at least two of the women as participants in an April protest outside the U.S. Embassy in Dushanbe.  SDP leader said he will take the matter to court.  "The women are possibly connected to authorities," Zoirov said. "We are planning to file a complaint to prosecutors about the incident."

 

December 11                - The Qurghon Teppa city court that reconsidered criminal proceedings instituted against Mashraf Aliyev, a former officer from the police station in the Yovon district of Khatlon province, who is accused of torturing teen boy, sentenced him to seven years in jail.  The sentence followed his conviction on the charge of torture (Article 143 of Tajikistan’s Penal Code).  Meanwhile, the charge of exceeding official authority that had been brought against Aliyev under Article 316 was dropped.  The court also imposed a 1,619 somoni fine on Mashraf Aliyev.  We will recall that the Yovon district court on September 6, 2012 found Mashraf Aliyev guilty of torture and sentenced him to seven years in prison.  Aliyev was convicted of torturing and ill-treating a 17-year-old boy on April 27, 2012.  This was the first time an official has been charged with the crime of torture since the Article on Torture in line with international legal standards was introduced into the Criminal Code of Tajikistan in March last year;

December 11                - The U.S. Department of State noted that the United States is pleased to commit $15 million in financing towards the Central Asia-South Asia Electricity Transmission Project (CASA-1000).

 

December 12                - Qodir Qosim, Chairman of the State Committee on Investment and State-owned Property Management of Tajikistan, met here with Mohammad Zubair, Chairman of the Board of Investment of Pakistan.  Issues related to Pakistan’s investment in enhancement of Tajikistan’s energy sector were a major topic of the meeting.  The Pakistani side reportedly showed interest in investing energy and industrial projects in Tajikistan.  The sides agreed to sign a memorandum of cooperation.

 

December 13                - An operation carried out by officers from the Interior Ministry’s office in the Varzob district led to the arrest of alleged drug peddler, the 26 year-old resident of Dushanbe, Talab Sattorov.  27.6 kilograms of heroin were reportedly found hidden in his Toyota-Corolla car.  The preliminary investigation has established that the confiscated heroin belongs to Muhiddin Latifov, 33, resident of the Hamadoni district in Khatlon province.

 

December 15                - Two Kyrgyz nationals were detained by Tajik border guards for illegally crossing the border.  They were trying to transport two electric poles in a disputed area near a Tajik village to a Kyrgyz village, RFE/RL’s Tajik Service reported.  They were released on December 16.  The head of the Kyrgyz government''s agency for border demarcation, Kurbanbai Iskandarov, said on December 16 that Bishkek proposed that Dushanbe hold the gathering on December 24.     

 

December 15-16           - The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Secretary-General Dmitry Mezentsev paid a two-day working visit to Tajikistan.  The SCO secretary general met with high-ranking Tajik state officials to discuss the upcoming SCO summit that will take place in the Tajik capital in September 2014.

 

 

December 17                - An alleged arson attack destroyed a teahouse belonging to a Kyrgyz citizen in a disputed area.  Kyrgyz and Tajik citizens reportedly blocked the Isfara-Vorukh road.  Some 200 people reportedly gathered on both sides of the road

 

December 19                - The German daily Bild reported that around 200 cars stolen in Germany have been tracked down in Tajikistan.  According to Bild , most of the stolen cars are now owned by people connected to President Emomali Rahmon.  Bild said the cars were located in Tajikistan through the vehicles'' GPS tracking systems.  Tajik Embassy in Berlin dismissed the allegation as unfounded.  The embassy said it had in the past asked Berlin to provide information from its database of stolen cars to Tajik authorities to prevent their illegal import into Tajikistan;

                                    - Resident of the southern city of Kulob, Muhammadjon Roziqov, 37, was arrested on suspicion of having been involved in drug pushing.  Four packages of narcotic drug that tested positive to cannabis weighing 62.08 kilograms were reportedly found in his home.

 

December 20                - The road linking the Tajik northern city of Isfara with Vorukh jamoat, which forms part of an exclave of Tajikistan within Kyrgyzstan, was reopened for traffic after negotiations between local Tajik and Kyrgyz officials;  

                                    - The 26-year-old resident of Khatlon’s Hamadoni district, Mukhriddin Nasriddinov, was arrested in Dushanbe on suspicion of having been involved in drug trafficking.  22.176 kilograms of heroin, some 13 kilograms and some nine kilograms of hashish were reportedly confiscated from him;

- Tajik MFA said it is looking into claims by German media that some 200 stolen cars from Germany have been tracked down in Tajikistan.  The ministry cast doubts on the claim, saying “German cars cross several state borders before reaching Tajikistan” and that “any falsified documents would have been discovered by customs services on those borders.”  

 

December 24                - Issues related to acceleration of the border demarcation process were discussed at a meeting of Tajik Deputy Prime Minister Murodali Alimardon with Kyrgyz Deputy Prime Minister Tokon Mamytov that took place in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek.  The sides reportedly agreed to hold the next round of talks on border demarcation in Dushanbe on January 7, 2014;

                                    - The Supreme Court sentenced five Tajik citizens to around two years in jail for fighting on the side of antigovernment forces in Syria, RFE/RL’s Tajik Service reports.  The five were students at the Syrian International University who decided to join Syrian rebel forces.  All five were detained in October when they returned to Tajikistan.  Since Tajikistan does not have a law against “mercenaries,” the five were charged with “participation in a criminal group or in other armed groups.”  Earlier this year, there were reports several Tajik nationals were killed in fighting in Syria.

 

December 25                - Known Tajik tycoon Zayd Saidov, who is the leader of Tajikistan''s unregistered New Tajikistan party, was sentenced to 26 years'' imprisonment after being convicted of financial fraud, polygamy, and sexual relations with a minor;

                                    - Deputies of Tajikistan’s lower house (Majlisi Namoyandagon) of parliament endorsed the bill introducing Article 133’ (2) “Slavery and Slave Labor” into Tajikistan’s Penal Code.  This article stipulates that slavery and use of slave labor is punishable by 5 to 12 years in prison;

- H.I., 30, from the northern city of Istaravashan got a jail term of 10 years and six months for membership in the outlawed religious extremist group Jamaat Ansarullah.  The sentence followed his conviction on charges of organizing an illegal armed formation (Article 185 of Tajikistan’s Penal Code), organizing a criminal group (Article 187), illegal possession of weapons (Article 195), preparation for a crime (Article 32), conspiring to use force against the state (Article 306), organizing an extremist group (Article 307), and not reporting a crime (Article 347).

 

December 26                - Tajik President Emomali Rahmon met here with the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Secretary-General Nikolai Bordyuzha.  The sides reportedly discussed issues related to development of relations between the Organization member nations.  A special attention was given to the issue of the regional development progress and prospects after the withdrawal of international coalition forces from Afghanistan after 2014.  In this context, Rahmon and Bordyuzha reportedly underlined the necessity of providing assistance to border troops and other power-wielding structures of Tajikistan;

                                    - The body of Tajik national Shojon Rahmatshoyev, 32, with multiple stab wounds was found in Moscow at around 10:00 pm.  Russian media sources report Shojon Rahmatshoyev was attacked near his apartment, stabbed 25 times and had his throat cut.  The assailants reportedly did not take any money or valuables.  Rahmatshoyev’s body was reportedly impossible to identify immediately due to the severity of the assault.  People who worked with Shojon Rahmatshoyev at one construction site were able to identify his body the morning after the murder.  Criminal proceedings have been instituted and investigators suppose that the killing was committed by a group of radical ultra-nationalists.

 

December 29                - Two Tajik nationals were killed in an explosion that rocked a train station in the Russian city of Volgograd.  Russia officials say a suicide attack on the train station in Volgograd killed 17 people.  About 40 people are said to have been injured.