DUSHANBE, February 17, 2013, Asia-Plus – New details of the Dushanbe hostage-taking incident have emerged.
Relatives of Safarkhoja Partoyev, an ethnic Tajik who got the Kazakh citizenship in the 1990s, claim that certain forces want to make Partoyev the scapegoat for “the so-called hostage-taking incident.”
According to them, nobody took the Ukrainian nationals Alexander Semiryakov, Vasiliy Yaremchuk and Yevgeniy Lenok hostage. Moreover, the Ukrainian nationals allegedly attempted to deceive Safarkhoja Partoyev and Shahboz Abduhalim.
They were reportedly doing a common business – driving vehicles from Ukraine to Tajikistan. Usually, Yaremchuk and Lenok were driving a car from Ukraine to Russia and Partoyev was driving it from Russia to Tajikistan. This time, Semiryakov decided to drive the car – Toyota Prado – for Tajik national Shahboz Abduhalim to Tajikistan by himself but the car was arrested on the Kazakh-Uzbek border because it was recorded as stolen, Partoyev’s relatives said.
Semiryakov, Yaremchuk and Lenok, however, arrived in Tajikistan in order to clarify the situation to the customer and arrange delivery of vehicles without mediator. Partoyev also arrived in Dushanbe to receive his money he paid as deposit for Toyota Prado for Shahboz Abduhalim.
“Nobody took the Ukrainian nationals hostage. They were just conducting negotiations on giving back money they received from Safarkhoja Partoyev and Shahboz Abduhalim for the car,” said the relatives. “They were staying with Shahboz Abduhalim and waiting for money from Ukraine. They could move freely about Dushanbe. However, the Ukrainian authorities raised a howl and the Tajik authorities joined them, misrepresenting the situation.”
Partoyev’s relatives are sure that certain circles are interested in such an interpretation of the situation.
We will recall that according to the Ukrainian MFA, three Ukrainian citizens, who were taken hostage by unidentified persons in Dushanbe (Tajikistan), were freed on January 31.
A statement released by the Ukrainian MFA, in particular, said, “Ukraine”s diplomatic office in Uzbekistan learned about the seizure of hostages on January 27 this year. The criminals demanded a ransom of $100,000 for the release of our compatriots.” According to the Ukrainian Embassy in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, the Tajik authorities promptly took measures to establish the location of hostages and release them, the statement noted.
“A special unit of the Tajik Interior Ministry conducted an operation on January 31 this year, and the Ukrainian citizens were released,” the statement said.
