DUSHANBE, July 23, 2009, Asia-Plus — Investigation into death of Khurshed Bobokalonov, the head of the admission department at the Republican Oncology Center within the Ministry of Health (MoH), has been launched on charge of negligent murder committed by a group of persons, the Minister of Interiors Abdurahim Qahhorov told reporters in Dushanbe on July 22.
If police officers involved in the incident are found guilty they will be punished, the minister said.
As it had been reported earlier, the tragedy took place in the center of Dushanbe on June 27t, at about 10:00 pm.
According to the Ministry of Interior (MoI), the 33-year-old Khurshed Bobokalonov was detained by police while being drunken. “To identify his personality police officers decided to take Bobokalonov to the police department but he died in the police car for unknown reason,” the MoI source said.
In the meantime, colleagues and relatives of Khurshed Bobokalonov say that he went into sports and enjoyed good health and he never abused alcohol.
On that day, Khurshed met his friends after training (he went into bodybuilding) and they decided to drink beer in one of bars in the center of the city. After that, Bobokalonov went to see his mother who lives near the supermarket Sitora in the center of Dushanbe.
“On the way to his mother’s home he was stopped by police officers,” said one of Khurshed’s colleagues, “I do not know what happened between them, but according to some witnesses, some 15 policemen tried to forcibly push Khurshed into the police car and he reportedly died on the way to the police department.”
According to relatives of Khurshed Bobokalonov, there were signs of bruises on his body.
In the meantime, according to the results of forensic medical examination, Khurshed Bobokalonov allegedly died of heart failure (cardiac insufficiency) and mechanical asphyxia.
