DUSHANBE, March 6, 2015, Asia-Plus — Tajik opposition organization Group 24 leader Umarali Quvvatov has reportedly been shot dead in Istanbul, Turkey.
Turkish news website
www.haberler.com
reports an unidentified person shot at him in the Fateh Street at 10:30 pm. Quvvatov was reportedly shot in the head and died on the spot.
“Quvvatov had a late dinner with his acquaintance at a café. After finishing they left the café and Quvvatov was shot dead by an unidentified person in the street,” the Turkish news website reports, noting that police do not yet know how many there were assailants.
Umarali Quvvatov first made headlines in the summer of 2012 when he fled Tajikistan for Moscow. There he formed an organization called Group 24, which he claims is a new political movement opposed to incumbent President Rahmon.
In December 23, 2012, Quvvatov was arrested in Dubai at the request of Tajik authorities. He has been accused of illegally obtaining about $1.2 million through fraudulent business activities. Quvvatov denounced the fraud case against him and accused Tajik President Emomali Rahmon of running a “totalitarian regime.” In an open letter smuggled out of the detention center, Umarali Quvvatov said the accusations leveled against him were “a direct consequence” of his battle against the “oppression of the Tajik people” by Rahmon”s government. Quvvatov was released from the detention center in Dubai on September 26, 2013.
Tajikistan”s Supreme Court banned Group 24 on October 9, 2014 following growing government pressure on the opposition group after it used the Internet to call for street protests in the capital, Dushanbe, on October 10.
Supreme Court judge Salomat Hakimova ruled that Group 24 is an extremist organization, and therefore is banned in Tajikistan. Its website and printed materials were also banned.
On December 19, 2014, Umarali Quvvatov was detained in Istanbul, Turkey. He was freed from the Istanbul detention facility on February 3 this year.
