Two ex-members of illegal armed group of Abdullo Rahimov, widely known as Mullo Abdullo, have got a lengthy jail term for committing grave crimes, the press center of the Prosecutor-General’s Office says.
In a ruling handed down by the Supreme Court of Tajikistan on February 12, 2021, A. Latipov and M. Nazirshoyev (both of them are residents of Nourobod district) are sentenced to nineteen years in prison each. They will serve their terms in a high-security penal colony.
The sentenced followed their conviction on charges of intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm (Article 110 of Tajikistan’s Penal Code), hostage taking (Article 181) and banditry (Article 188).
They were members of the illegal armed group of Mullo Abdullo, which had been operating in Nourobod district during the civil war in Tajikistan.
“In May 1999, one of local women complained to Mullo Abdullo about her husband's adultery. Mullo Abdullo ordered the convicts to punish the “unfaithful husband.” They took him hostage and released only after receiving a ransom from his father. After the defeat of Mullo Abdullo’s gang, the convicts left for Russia and hid there,” the press center of the Prosecutor-General’s Office said.
Recall, Mullo Abdullo himself was killed on April 15, 2011 along with 14 of his confederates in the Rasht district, some 50 kilometers west of Gharm, the administrative center of Rasht district. Tajik authorities said Mullo Abdullo and his followers were behind the 2011 attack on Tajik Army forces in Kamarob Gorge in the eastern Rasht district in which at least 26 soldiers died.
Mullo Abdullo was one of United Tajik Opposition (UTO) field commanders during the country’s 1992-1997 civil war. He never accepted the peace treaty and reportedly fled to Afghanistan. In 2009, a few reports surfaced that he had returned to Tajikistan and was hiding in the mountains around the Rasht district.
