DUSHANBE, May 26, 2014, Asia-Plus — The Tajik authorities have rejected an offer to amnesty participants of the recent disorder in Khorog, an official source at one of Tajik law enforcement agencies told Asia-Plus Monday afternoon.
“During a meeting of the joint commission to investigate the May 21 incident, representatives of the Tajik authorities noted on May 25 that there will be no amnesty for persons, who participated in the recent disorder in Khorog,” the source said.
According to him, representatives of the government delegation in the joint commission for investigation into the May 21 incident include investigators from the Tajik Prosecutor-General’s Office Jamshed, Sangov, Bahodur Amonbekov, Abduloiq Mirozyev and Nabijon Nabiyev.
The civil society of the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) is reportedly represented in the commission by Muzaffar Muborakshoyev, Faromouz Ergashev (lawyer), Bakhtovar Bakhtiyorov (pensioner) and Khusrand Mamadshoyev (unemployed).
Meanwhile, the GBAO civil society activists say they have insisted on another list of persons to participate in negotiations with the Tajik authorities.
The list offered by the GBAO civil society reportedly included Faromouz Ergashev (lawyer), Mamadboqir Mamadboqirov (head of Bar (Upper) Khorog mahalla (urban division), Tolib Ayombekov (head of the Khlebzavod mahalla), Zoir Rajabov (head of the UPD mahalla), Yoghibek Yoghibekov (representative of civil society), Kholbash Kholbashev (commander of the border guard group deployed in GBAO), Alim Sherzamonov (head of the Social-Democratic Party (SDP)’s organization for GBAO), and Ulfatkhonum Mamadshoyeva (chairwoman of the
Nomous va Insof
Public Association)
An appeal to President Emomali Rahmon, Tajikistan’s Government and Parliament, the GBAO regional legislature (Majlis) and international community that was released on behalf of the “civil society” of Gorno Badakhshan on May 25, in particular, includes nine demands:
- To expand the composition of the joint commission for investigation into the May 21 incident in Khorog;
- For the purpose of creating normal conditions for the work of the joint commission, to refrain from making hasty and ill-considered statements;
- In order to avoid provocations, to temporarily dismiss the head of the Interior Ministry’s office in Gorno Badakhshan, the head of the Khorog police department, the head of the State Committee for National Security (SCNS)’s office in Gorno Badakhshan, GBAO and Khorog chief prosecutors until all the circumstances are clarified;
- To convene extraordinary session of the GBAO and Khorog local councils to discuss the current situation in the region;
- The results of work of the joint commission should be submitted for consideration to the President and the Government and they must be published in all country’s media and social networks;
- Taking into account spontaneity of a peaceful demonstration, we call on the Khorog authorities to help with an immediate process of the authorization of the demonstration and to help release the demonstration participants from responsibility;
- Taking into account the circumstances of illegal actions such as arsons and disorder committed by a crowd in response to ungrounded use by the law enforcement officers of firearms that caused to civilian casualties, we call on the Tajik authorities to release persons, who participated in that clashes, from responsibility;
- Taking into consideration the importance of releasing a reliable information for the purpose of avoiding rumors and further escalation of the situation in the region, there ought to cover the GBAO events regularly and opportunely;
- To provide written guarantees for the fulfillment of the demands with specifying dates for the fulfillment of the demands.
We will recall that several dozens of protesters in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region spent two nights in tents in the center of the regional capital, Khorog, taking their effort to convince the government to meet their demands.
The protesters were demanding an investigation into deadly clashes on May 21 and the resignations of the local governor, police chiefs, and prosecutor.
Two suspected drug traffickers were killed and one was wounded by police officers on May 21. Besides, two persons were killed and at least seven people were wounded on the same day after police opened fire on a crowd that tried to storm a police station.
On May 22, Tajik Interior Minister Ramazon Rahim and the presidential adviser on national security, Sherali Khairulloyev, tried to persuade the protesters to leave the city center, but the talks failed to yield any results.
The wounded suspected drug trafficker died in the hospital in Friday night (May 23), sparking the march on the building of the SCNS’s office for GBAO in Khorog. At least one person was killed and two wounded. Witnesses reported that one of the protesters threw a grenade at the building of the SCNS’s office and some protesters opened fire on the facility.
According to some sources, the Khorog protesters dispersed Sunday night and the current situation in the GBAO administrative center is relatively stable.
Khorog saw days of fighting in 2012 between government troops and rebels after President Emomali Rahmon vowed to punish local warlords for the killing of a security service general.
