QURGHN TEPPA, Jul 23, 2010, Asia-Plus — Six militant followers of the mutinous Colonel Mahmoud Khudoiberdiyev have been arrested in Khatlon province since the beginning of this year, the Khatlon police directorate chief Abdurahmon Buzmakov said in an interview with Asia-Plus.
According to him, three of them have been detained in the Qurghon Teppa zone of the province and three others have been arrested in the city of Kulob. “Two of them have already been sentenced to 15 years in prison each, while the preliminary investigation into cases of four others is still going on,” Buzmakov said.
“There are supporters of Mahmoud Khudoiberdiyev, Khouja Karimov as well as outlawed religious Hizhb ut-Tahrir and Jamaati Tabligh in the province and local law enforcement authorities are working in this direction,” he added.
We will recall that Colonel Mahmoud Khudoiberdiyev made two failed coup attempts in 1997 and 1998. After the failed coup attempt made in August 1997, Khudoiberdiyev and his supporters retreated via Shahritus and Beshkent into southern Uzbekistan. According to some sources, after leaving Tajikistan, the mutinous colonel and his militant followers moved through Uzbekistan into Afghanistan in November 1997. Khudoiberdiyev reportedly returned to Uzbekistan in June 1998. On November 4, 1998, Khdoiberdiyev’s armed group invaded Sughd province from Uzbekistan. A few days later the government regained control of the province. Some 100 people were reportedly killed in the Sughd clashes. Tajik Prosecutor-General’s Office instituted criminal proceedings against Khudoiberdiyev under the provisions of two articles of Tajikistan’s Penal Code (high treason and coup attempt) and has repeatedly requested Uzbek authorities to extradite Khudoiberdiyev to Tajikistan.
