DUSHANBE, October 15, 2014, Asia-Plus – The name of Rustam Hukumov, the senior son of the ex-head of Tajikistan’s railways Amonullo Hukumatullo, has appeared in criminal reports again.
This time, he reportedly fired a pneumatic pistol and wounded the chief of the traffic police station in the Ayni district of Sughd province.
An official source at one of law enforcement agencies in Sughd province says the incident took place on the Dushanbe-Khujand highway, near the village of Varzi Manor, not far from the administrative center of Ayni district.
“Rustam Hukumov was driving from Dushanbe to Khujand when a truck barred the road to his car. Hukumov drove his car into oncoming traffic and stooped; thereby he blocked traffic completely. He behaved aggressively and when the Ayni traffic police station chief Saidjon Nabiyev intended to take number plate off his car, he took out a pneumatic pistol and shot at Nabiyev three times and escaped the scene,” the source said.
According to him, Rustam Hukumov was detained at the Shahriston Pass and he is currently being held at the detention facility of the police station in the Ayni district.
The Interior Ministry’s office in Sughd province has set up a special group to investigate the incident.
We will recall that Rustam Hukumov’s name appeared in criminal reports for the first time in September 2010.
The Shchyolkovo court (Moscow oblast) sentenced Rustam Hukumov to 9½ years in prison on September 15, 2010. The sentence followed his conviction on the charge of drug smuggling. Rustam Hukumov, who is citizen of Russia, and three his friends were reportedly detained with nine kilograms of heroin in the Moscow oblast in June 2008. Investigation lasted for two years and he was sentenced to nine years. Narcotics had reportedly been transported to Russia by rail.
In the meantime, members of the board of the Moscow regional court considered the supervisory complaint in December and reportedly came to a unanimous opinion that the verdict against Rustam Hukumov was based on assumptions and allegations and that his guilt had not been proved during the trial. Moscow regional court board overturned the verdict against Rustam Hukumov and he was acquitted and released in connection with non-participation in that crime.
According to some Russian media outlets, the case arose in the autumn of 2011 when a Tajik court sentenced two pilots working for Rolkan Investment Ltd to 8 ½ years in prison each for flying illegally into Tajikistan and smuggling and smuggling aircraft parts. Some of them that time published allegations that by convicting the pilots the Tajik authorities tried to make pressure on Russia to release Rustam Hukumov. Russia demanded reconsideration of the pilots’ case and they were released on November 22. The Tajik court reduced the pilots” sentences to 21/2 years each. With the subtraction of two years under the amnesty, and six months for time served, the immediate release of the pilots was secured.
In October 2011, Tajikistan’s daily newspaper,
Imrouz News
(News Today) published an article “Hukumov and Bakiyev Become Headache for Their Fathers” that was about detention of the sons of ex-Tajik state railway company head Amonullo Hukumatullo and ex-Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev by law enforcement authorities of other countries.
Rustam Hukumov filed the lawsuit against Imrouz News on January 29, 2013, asking for 50,000 somoni as compensation of moral damage that was allegedly caused by an article published by the newspaper.
Rustam Hukumov strongly objected to the conclusion drawn by the journalist that he had allegedly been released in exchange for the release of two pilots working for Rolkan Investment Ltd.
The final verdict in a case against
Imrouz News
was issued in a court in Dushanbe’s Ismoili Somoni district on February 25, 2013. The judge, Sherzod Nizomov, satisfied Rustam Hukumov’s suit against the newspaper for moral damages and ruled that
Imrouz News
must pay 50,000 somoni to him.
