DUSHANBE, July 6, 2010, Asia-Plus — The Supreme Court of Tajikistan sentenced two sons of the late former Tajik Minister for Emergency Situations Mirzo Ziyoev – Saidahmad and Muhammadrizo – to 28 and 30 years in prison respectively on July 5, Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reported.
In all, 49 people, including citizens of Russia and Uzbekistan as well as residents of Panj and Tavildara districts of Tajikistan were on the dock. They also got various long jail terms. The sentence followed their conviction on charges of formation of or participation in an armed formation for the purpose of overthrowing or forcibly changing the constitutional order of the country.
Criminal proceedings were instituted against them last summer following clashes between illegal armed groups and police in eastern Tajikistan.
Asia-Plus got in touch with representative from the Supreme Court by phone today but he refused to comment on this report, noting that the trial was behind closed doors.
We will recall that Mirzo Ziyoev was killed during a security operation in eastern Tajikistan on July 11, 2009. Last summer, illegal armed groups clashed with police in Tavildara district on two separate occasions. Tajik officials reported in early July last year that Mirzo Ziyoev had been arrested because of his support for armed groups suspected of involvement in terrorism and drug trafficking. Tajik authorities announced shortly afterward that Ziyoev was killed by an unknown armed group in Tavildara district of Tajikistan on his way to negotiate the disarming of insurgents on July 11. Tajik security forces had been fighting insurgents in the area for several weeks. Tajik authorities conducted what they said was an anti-drug operation in the area.
Mirzo Ziyoev was one of the top military commanders of the United Tajik Opposition (UTO) during Tajikistan”s 1992-97 civil war. After the 1997 General Peace Agreement, he was eventually given his ministerial post as part of the power-sharing deal that ended the civil war. The ministry was disbanded in 2006.
