DUSHANBE, November 21, 2013, Asia-Plus — The Islamic Revival Party (IRP) leader Muhiddin Kabiri today visited families of two arrested IRP activists, Umedjon Tojiyev and Zuhur Ibrohimov, in the Chorkuh jamoat of Isfara in the northern province of Sughd, according to IRP’s headquarters in Dushanbe.
Kabiri reportedly promised their relatives to take all measures to defend the arrested IRP activists within the framework of the country’s legislation.
“The arrested activists’ relatives say Tojiyev and Ibrohimov did not violate the country’s laws and they were just slandered. Kabiri intends to meet with the detainees’ defense lawyer, investigators and detainees themselves,” the source said.
On November 21, Kabiri also met with IRP activists in Isfara and on November 22 he will participate in the IRP regional conference in Khujand.
We will recall that Kabiri on November 19 applied to the Prosecutor-General Sherkhon Salimzoda, asking to check a report released by some media sources that torture has been used by officers from the Isfara police station against the IRP members Umedjon Tojiyev and Zuhur Ibrohimov.
The IRP activist Umedjon Tojiyev, 34, was hospitalized on November 2 after falling from the third floor of the Isfara police station.
Following testimonies from detained Zuhur Ibrohimov and Ghufron Shodiyev and confession of Tojiyev himself, the Isfara prosecutor’s office reportedly instituted criminal proceedings against Umedjon Tojiyev on November 2 under the provisions of Article 187 (2) of Tajikistan’s Penal Code – organizing a criminal grouping. He allegedly tried to escape from local police station by jumping off the third floor.
The Interior Ministry’s press center reported on November 4 that that Umedjon Tojiyev jumped from a third-floor window on November 2 and broke his leg.
By interior minister’s order an official injury was launched into the incident.
Tojiyev was initially arrested on October 30 for refusing to follow police instructions.
Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reported on November 4 that Tojiyev’s colleagues and relatives say the charges against him are politically motivated and that he might have been tortured while in custody.
