Former police officer Shuhrat Shamsiddinov is charged with using torture against resident of the Asht district (Sughd province) Komil Khojanazarov, who later committed suicide.
The Khujand military court sentenced Shuhrat Shamsiddinov to 13 years in prison on January 30. The sentence followed his conviction on charges of torture, illegal detention and large-scale fraud. Shamsiddinov will serve his term in a high-security penal colony.
Recall, two law enforcement officers were jailed in connection with this case last summer.
In June 2018, the Khujand military court sent Latifjon Yuldoshev, an officer at the Interior Ministry’s office in the Asht district, and Mohammad Naimov, an officer at the State Committee for National Security (SCNS)’s office in the Asht district, to prison. They were charged with driving Komil Khojanazarov to suicide
When criminal proceedings were instituted over the fact of Khojanazarov’s suicide, Shuhrat Shamsiddinov fled the country. He was put on the wanted list and was detained at end of the last year
The 31-year-old Komil Khojanazarov was detained on August 18, 2018 and released on August 24 after paying 6,000 somoni. On August 26, he left a deathbed video on which he told about use of torture against him. According to him, police officers were summoning him for questioning and torturing him even after he paid them money. Khojanazarov could not tolerate more that and committed suicide.
The video was posted on social media and the authorities exhumed the body and conducted re-examination, which showed that Khojanazarov had really been tortured. The Sughd military prosecutor’s office instituted criminal proceedings. The chief of the SCNS’s office in the Asht district, Parvin Komilov, was fired following the official investigation.
