DUSHANBE, May 17, 2011, Asia-Plus — The Dushanbe prosecutor’s office is reportedly probing into death of Dushanbe resident whose relatives say was beaten by police.
Saidahmad Jamolov, a senior prosecutor with the department to oversee investigations, Dushanbe prosecutor’s office says the Dushanbe prosecutors are thoroughly probing into death of Safarali Sangov, 37, whose relatives say was severely beaten by police.
“Criminal proceedings have been instituted against one of officers from the police station in Dushanbe’s Sino district,” said Jamolov, “Criminal proceedings have been instituted against him under the provisions of Article 316 (3) of Tajikistan’s Penal code – abuse of power or office, which entailed grave consequences.” The prosecutor, however, refrained from giving further details, noting that it is “secret of investigation.”
We will recall that Safarali Sangov died on March 5 in the National Medical Center in Dushanbe several days after he was beaten and taken from his house by plainclothes officers. His wife told Asia-Plus that on March 1, a group of men in civilian clothes, who were evidently from a police station in Dushanbe”s Sino district, entered their house, beat her husband, and took him away. She found him later in a coma in the resuscitation department of the National Medical Center.
Police say Sangov, who they suspected of drug pushing, tried to commit suicide by jumping out of the second-floor window during his interrogation at the police station. Interior Ministry spokesperson Mahmadullo Asadulloyev said the police officers suspected Sangov was in possession of drugs. He added that Sangov had been arrested previously for crimes in Russia and Tajikistan.
Sangov”s relatives acknowledged he was jailed in Russia in 1998 for five years for drug-related crimes. But they also say that when he returned home he went into business and opened a small supermarket. They said police were trying to extort a share of his profits.
According to the Prosecutor-General’s Office, 13 police officers were detained last year for various crimes; six of them face charge of abuse of power, including use of inadmissible methods of investigation against suspects and persons under investigation.
