Tajik national has got a lengthy jail term for an attempted murder of known Tajik poet Bozor Sobir.
A court in Dushanbe’s Ismoili Somoni court has sentenced Behrouz Yadgarov, 26, to thirteen years in prison.
The sentence followed his conviction on charges of involvement of Tajik nationals and stateless persons in illegal foreign armed conflicts (Article 401’ (1) of Tajikistan’s Penal Code) and criminal attempt (Article 32 of Tajikistan’s Penal Code)
Firouz Sultonzod says, “Yadgarov was going to commit that crime in order to gain authority in the eyes of his future commanders from the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group.”
According to him, Yadgarov planned to kill Bozor Sobir after joining the IS terrorist group.
“He planned to travel to Syria after killing the poet but the country’s law enforcement authorities have wrecked his plans,” said the spokesman. “Yadgarov has admitted that he proposed to kill Bozor Sobir in order to gain the confidence of one of the IS field commanders named as Abubakar Muvahhid.”
Behrouz Yadgarov left Tajikistan for Germany in 2014 for medical treatment but was granted refugee status there. In Germany, he was reportedly engaged in recruiting Tajik nationals into the IS terrorist group through Internet.
Yadgarov returned to Tajikistan in May 2016 and was detained by the security officers.
Bozor Sobir, 78, is known Tajik poet. He writes in Tajik, but his poetry has been translated into many languages.
With the advent of “glasnost' he became actively involved in the political and cultural movements for independent national identity. Bozor Sobir was also a prominent member of the Democratic Party until his resignation from the party in November 1992, reportedly because of disagreement with the party leadership.
In 1993, Bozor Sobir was arrested and he was held in pretrial detention facility for nine months. He was released under support of international human rights organizations. After release from prison, Bozor Sobir left Tajikistan for Russia and a year later he moved to the United States. At the invitation of President Emomali Rahmon Bozor Sobir returned to Tajikistan in 2013.
