DUSHANBE, February 18, 2013, Asia-Plus – The Prosecutor-General’s Office of Tajikistan has sent an extradition request for former Tajik Prime Minister Abdumalik Abdullojonov to the Ukrainian authorities, Abduqodir Muhammadiyev, the First Deputy Prosecutor-General, told Asia-Plus Monday afternoon.
According to him, the extradition request is based on the 60-volume criminal proceedings instituted against Abdullojonov in 1998. Muhammadiyev, however, refrained from naming articles of Tajikistan’s Penal Code, under the provisions of which criminal proceedings had been instituted against Abdullojonov.
“Official Kiev is currently studying the documents, we are cooperating within the framework of the Minsk Convention of 1993,” the first deputy Tajik chief prosecutor stressed.
The Convention on Legal Assistance and Conflicts of Law in Matters of Civil, Family and Criminal Law (the Minsk Convention) was adopted in Minsk on January 22, 1993.
“If the issue is solved positively, Abdullojonov should be extradited to Tajikistan within 45 days,” Muhammadiyev noted.
Meanwhile, Abdullojonov’s defense lawyer, Andrey Fedur, said that if extradited, Abdullojonov”s life would be in danger. He expressed hope that the Ukrainian authorities will not extradite his client to Tajikistan.
Andrey Fedur considers that the Ukrainian law enforcement authorities should have not arrested Abdullojonov though he has been internationally wanted. “Abdullojonov has a status of refugee in the United States,” Fedur told the Ukraine National News in an interview on February 14.
We will recall that Abdumalik Abdullojonov was arrested at Borispol Airport near Kiev on February 5 on an international warrant after arriving from the United States.
The Borispol court ruled on February 7 that former Tajik Prime Minister Abdumalik Abdullojonov can be held in detention for up to 40 days while authorities await documents from Dushanbe regarding his possible extradition.
Abdumalik Abdullojonov, who challenged Tajik President Emomali Rahmon in the 1994 presidential election, is accused by the Tajik authorities of involvement in a 1996 assassination attempt on President Rahmon. He is also accused of backing a 1998 militant attack in Sughd Province, and of organized crime and terrorism-related offenses.
For the past decade, Abdullojonov has lived in the United States.
