DUSHANBE, April 12, 2011, Asia-Plus — The Moscow city court has reportedly permitted extradition of Nizomkhon Jourayev to Tajikistan to face charges of organization of illegal armed formation and other serious crimes.
Russia’s news agency, Interfax, reports the court’s press center says an appeal by Jourayev’s lawyers against the decision of the Russian Prosecutor-General’s Office to extradite their client was turned down.
Moscow police detained Nizomkhon Jourayev in August 2010 upon an extradition request from the authorities in Tajikistan and in February 2011, the Russian Prosecutor-General decided that he could be extradited. Nizomkhon Jourayev has applied for asylum in Russia. His first appeal was turned down and he appealed against this decision.
Nizomkhon Jourayev has been wanted by Tajik police since 2007.
Jourayev, the former owner of a chemical plant and a distillery in Isfara, Sughd province, was also a member of the Sughd legislature. In 2007 investigations were launched into his financial activities, and later in 2008 he was officially accused of ordering assassination of former Deputy Prosecutor-General Tolib Boboyev in 1999.
Criminal proceedings have been instituted against Nizomkhon Jourayev under the provisions of eight articles of Tajikistan’s Penal Code: Article 104 – murder; Article 185 – organization of illegal armed formation; Article 186 – banditry; Article 195 – illegal storage of weapons; Article 245 – embezzlement or misappropriation; Article 262 – money laundering; Article 292 – tax evasion; and Article 340 – document forgery. Nizomkhon Jourayev left the country before his arrest warrant was issued.
On June 9, 2009, the Supreme Court of Tajikistan sentenced 31 associates of Nizomkhon Jourayev to long jail terms. They were sentenced to prison terms between 11 and 25 years, while a prosecutor in the trial of them asked for shorter terms for them.
According to Tajik law enforcement authorities, Nizomkhon Jourayev and his two brothers, Fakhriddin and Tolib, were involved in organizing the assassination of former Deputy Prosecutor-General Tolib Boboyev in 1999.
Jourayev and his associates were also charged with setting up an organized criminal group, tax evasion, and a number of financial crimes.
