DUSHANBE, February 2, 2011, Asia-Plus — The General-Prosecutor’s Office has completed investigation into the case of Atovullo Raqibov, resident of Fayzobod district, and it has moved to a court in Fayzobod district.
The source says criminal proceedings have been instituted against Raqibov under the provision of Article 237 (2) of Tajikistan’s Penal Code – hooliganism. “On September 14, 2010, Atovullo Raqibov prevented activities of the commission that was set up for full demolition of his house,” he said.
The case seems to be knotty: the Fayzobod police department has instituted the case following an application by an excavator operator who said that Raqibov allegedly broke the excavator’s glass as token of protest against demolition of his house.
The house of the Raqibov family was demolished by local authorities in 2009 and only one structure consisting of one room remained, in which Atovullo and his family lived.
On January 17, 2011, Atovullo Raqibov and his family gathered outside the Ombudsman’s office in Dushanbe. He told Asia-Plus on the same day that the house was demolished, though the family had all necessary documents, including the certificate of land use right.
According to him, they went through all instances but failed to find solution to the problem. “At the end of 2010, we applied to Tajik Ombudsman Zarif Alizoda and he promised to examine the issue,” said Raqibov, “More than a month has passed since that time, but we have not yet received any reply. That is why my wife, I and our five children have decided to stand outside the Ombudsman’s office until our problem is solved.”
Atovullo Raqibov and his family spent an overnight in Ombudsman’s Office in Dushanbe but failed to meet with the ombudsman.
On January 18, at around 8:00 am, officers from the police department in Dushanbe’s Ismoili Somoni district came. They promised to help and took them to the police department. Raqibov and his family spent there a couple of hours and they then took them to the Fayzobod police department.
After a long wait, the Fayzobod police authorities said that they must go home and wait for arrival of Fayzobod chairman officers who was in Dushanbe to attend the government session.
According to Raqibov, their house was demolished in July 2009, though they had all necessary documents. “Local authorities, however, claimed that our residential building did not allegedly comply with the district plan,” said Raqibov, “A cart road leading to six residential buildings behind our house was to run through that area. There is a roundabout route; it is enough to drive just little more than one hundred meters. However, they decided that the road must run through our house. I was in Russia that time to earn money to keep my family; I was forced to return home and I am currently not working for more than a year, because I am forced to visit courts. All this time, we have stayed with our relatives.”
It is to be noted that the criminal case instituted against Raqibov in September 2010 was then suspended and it was resumed only in January this year when Atovullo Raqibov began haunting officials’ thresholds in Dushanbe in search of truth and justice.
