May 1 – An annual anti-drug operation, dubbed “Kuknor 2011” (Poppy 2011), was launched in Tajikistan;
– Russia increased tariffs for gasoline exported to Tajikistan from US$283.9 per ton to US$408.3.
May 2 – Police officers discovered the cache containing one hunting gun K-12, three RGD-5 hand grenades as well as more than 200 bullets of 7.62 mm caliber and 455 bullets of 5.45 mm caliber while inspecting the Sarkokuli area in Hamadoni district, Khatlon province;
– An operation by officers from the Drug Control Agency (DCA) has reportedly led to the seizure of more than 155 kilograms of narcotics in Khatlon province.
May 3 – The Supreme Court’s military board jailed four men for life in connection with a mass jailbreak last August that left several prison guards dead. Three other men were sentenced to 30 years in prison for their part in the escape from the pretrial detention facility in Dushanbe. The seven were among 25 prisoners who broke out of the prison on the night of August 23, killing four guards. The court also found three other men found guilty of helping the escapees reach safe locations;
– Tajik Defense Minister Sherali Khairulloyev met with his Kyrgyz counterpart Abibulla Kudaiberdiyev in the Tajik northern city of Isfara. The sides reportedly considered issues related to cooperation between the defense ministries of the two countries, interaction in combating terrorism and providing peace and stability on the border. Khairulloyev and Kudaiberdiyev also discussed a number of regional issues being of mutual interest.
May 5 – Mudslides caused by torrential rain killed thee persons in Tajikistan. Two Mirzoyev brothers – Fazliddin, 18, and Fakhriddin, 16 – were killed by a mudslide that hit the village of Maydapata in Farkhor district, Khatlon province and the mudslide that hit the village of Shingak in Sughd’s Panjakent district killed 16-year-old Gulsira Khojayeva;
– Officers from the Interior Ministry department for combating drug trafficking (drug police) seized nearly 55 kilograms of hashish in Khujand, Sughd province.
May 6 – By ruling handed down by a court in Dushanbe’s Firdavsi district the Bureau of Linguistic Expertise, Legal Advice, and Investigative Journalism was closed down;
– The Islamic Revival Party (IRP) member Husniddin Sharofiddinov was sentenced to five days in jail for refusing to give authorities a video of an Islamic wedding. His relatives say the police failed to notify them of his arrest. Asht district court judge Shoghufron Davronov said the police asked Sharofiddinov to lend them the video of the wedding but he refused and cursed police officers.
May 7 – Mudslide caused by heavy rainfalls killed a six-year-old boy in Nourobod district, Rasht Valley;
– Dushanbe Mayor Mahmadsaid Ubaidulloyev called on market traders to lower the prices they charge for flour, beef, and lamb, following a spike in the cost of basic food items. He said beef should cost no more than 23 somoni ($5.10) and lamb no more than 24 somoni ($5.32) per kilogram. In April, the price of meat was about 21 somoni, but beef and lamb prices rose in early May to 27 and 28 somoni per kilogram, an increase of some 33 percent. Food prices in Tajikistan have risen dramatically due to increase in the price of fuel and the U.S. dollar”s rise against the local currency. Tajikistan imports 60 percent of its food and all of its fuel and mineral fertilizers.
May 9 Tajikistan marked the 66th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.
May 9-11 – Tajik Foreign Minister Hamrokhon Zarifi attended at the 11th Doha Forum on Democracy, Development and Free Trade. On the sidelines of the forum, Zarifi held talks with Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor al-Thani to discuss cooperation issues. Hamrokhon Zarifi also met with Swedish and Portuguese foreign ministers in Doha
May 9-12 – Tajik Prime Minister Oqil Oqilov attended the 4th UN Conference on the Least Developed Countries in Istanbul, Turkey.
May 10 – President Emomali Rahmon received visiting Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Middle Eastern Affairs, Mohammad-Reza Raouf Shaybani. Mr. Shaybani handed over a message from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to President Rahmon. During his stay in Dushanbe, Shaybani also held talks with Tajik Deputy Foreign Minister, Mahmoudjon Sobirov.
May 11 – At least ten butchers were arrested and questioned in Dushanbe for failing to comply with a recommendation by the mayor to lower the price of beef. Qudratullo Ghulomov, chief of staff of the Dushanbe police directorate, said that citizens who did not obey would be punished and their shops would be closed. Butchers protest that municipal officials are not empowered to dictate prices. They say the higher prices they charge reflect a wholesale price increase caused by an abrupt rise in gasoline prices coupled with the decline in value of the somoni against the U.S. dollar.
May 12 – Police officers discovered the cash containing two assault rifles Kalashnikov while inspecting the area near the village of Sherbegiyon, Samsoliq jamoat (community) in Nourobod district;
– President Emomali Rahmon received Mr. Motoo Konishi, the World Bank Regional Director for Central Asia, and Mr. Theodore Ahlers, the World Bank Director of Strategy and Operations for the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) Region. According to the presidential press service, the sides discussed issues related to cooperation between Tajikistan and the World Bank, including assessment studies for the Roghun Hydropower Project (HPP);
– Officers from the Drug Control Agency (DCA) seized some 500 tablets of MDMA tablets, also known as ecstasy, in Dushanbe.
May 13 – President Emomali Rahmon received visiting CIS Interstate Fund for Humanitarian Cooperation (IFHC) CEO Armen Smbtyan. According to the presidential press service, the two discussed a broad range of issues related humanitarian cooperation within the CIS area.
May 15 – Tajik national Juma Ibrohimov, who was one of 25 detainees who escaped from the pretrial detention facility run by the State Committee for national Security (SCNS) in Dushanbe last August was killed in a gun battle with Tajik security forces in eastern Tajikistan. The Interior Ministry spokesman Mahmadullo Asadulloyev says Juma Ibrohimov was an activist of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and he was sentenced to 30 years in prison in August 2010;
– Amirqul Azimov, a candidate from the ruling People”s Democratic Party, reportedly won the parliamentary by-election in Dushanbe”s Sino district.
May 16 – President Emomali Rahmon met here with the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Lithuanian Foreign Minister, Audronius Ažubalis. The sides reportedly discussed issues related to strengthening of democratic institutions in the country, ensuring freedom of speech as well as rights and freedom of citizens in Tajikistan;
– A defeated candidate in the Dushanbe parliamentary by-election, Tolibshoh Saidzoda, filed a complaint to demand the revision of the results, which he says were rigged. Saidzoda said he appended evidence of fraud to his complaint. That evidence includes 14 observers” statements, photos of illegal ballot papers, and video footage showing six ballot papers being dropped illegally into a ballot box, Saidzoda noted.
May 17 – President Rahmon Tajik received visiting Afghan Minister of Information and Culture Sayed Makhdum Rahin. The two reportedly discussed a broad range of issues related to cultural cooperation between Tajikistan and Afghanistan. Tajik leader offered to establish a Tajik-Afghan council for cultural affairs;
– At least six Tajik nationals were killed in a fire in a three-storey building in downtown Moscow.
May 17-19 – The first set of riparian information-sharing and discussion meetings on the assessment studies for the proposed Roghun Regional Water Reservoir and Hydropower Project (Roghun HPP) took place in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
May 18 – A tripartite meeting of defense ministers of Tajikistan (Sherali Khairulloyev), Kazakhstan (Adilbek Jasybekov) and Kyrgyzstan (Abibilla Kudaiberdiyev) took place in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan at the end of last week. The meeting, initiated by the Kazakh defense minister, focused on issues related to conducting joint military exercises, military and technical cooperation, training of personnel, and exchange of operating data.
May 19 – A group of Tajik border guards and security officers came under fire of an unknown group while carrying out an investigation and search operation in the area patrolled by frontier post # 6 of the Panj border unit, Panj district in Khatlon province. The border guards and security officers replied to their fire and they were forced to retreat to Afghan territory. One assault rifle Kalashnikov, 10 kilograms of heroin, 2 kilograms of hashish and 2 kilograms of raw opium were found on the spot. No wounded was reported among the border guards and security officers;
– The State Communications Service issued a directive ordering internet providers to restrict access to the website of a prominent Tajik religious and political figure Hoji Turajonzoda because of “a technical problem.” As of May 20, the website could only be accessed by using proxy servers.
May 20 – U.S. Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan Marc Grossman visited Tajikistan as part of his visit to South and Central Asia. He met with President Emomali Rahmon and some other high-ranking Tajik state officials to thank them for their support of the international mission in Afghanistan.
May 20-21 – The UNDP Administrator, Ms. Helen Clark, visited Tajikistan.
May 22-23 – U.S. Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Geoffrey Pyatt visited Dushanbe and met officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to hold follow-up discussions on issues raised during April”s Annual Bilateral Consultations. During his visit, Mr. Pyatt met with international donors to discuss coordination of border assistance to Tajikistan. He also met with representatives of civil society to discuss human rights, religious freedom, rule of law, media freedom, and youth and gender issues.
May 23 – The first national forum of women living with HIV in Tajikistan took place in Dushanbe. The forum that was held under the motto of “Women of Tajikistan for Future without AIDS” was initiated by leaders and members of the Network of Women Living with HIV in Tajikistan that was established in 2010 under support of the Mental Health and HIV/AIDS Center, Act Central Asia and AIDS Foundation East-West (AFEW);
– 10 local lawmakers in GBAO’s Rushan district filed a lawsuit against their voters, who criticized them for neglecting their voters” interests, Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reported. Voters recently complained to the regional government that the lawmakers — many of whom are government officials from the ruling People”s Democratic Party — raised utility prices. The lawmakers, however, are fighting back, by suing the voters for slander and insult. They also are demanding 1 million somoni in compensation.
May 24 – Criminal case over death of Dushanbe resident whose relatives say was beaten by police moved to a court in Dushanbe’s Sino district. Two police officers are standing trial over the case of death of Safarali Sangov. They reportedly face charge of negligence;
– A new flagpole erected in Dushanbe looks set to enter the Guinness Book of Records. A 165-meter-high flagpole will hoist the country”s three-color flag, measuring 60 metes by 30 meters, in front of the newly built Palace of the Nation in downtown Dushanbe. The flag will be officially raised on September 9 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of independence;
– The Central Commission for Elections and Referenda (CCER) set up a special group consisting of CCER First Deputy Chairman Karomatullo Kholiqov, CCER administration chief Mukhibullo Dodojonov, Tajik Journalists’ Union head Akbarali Sattorov, who is also a KMIR member, to study complaint filed by the defeated candidate in the Dushanbe parliamentary by-election, Tolibshoh Saidzoda.
May 25-31 – A joint drill for servicemen of the Mobile Forces of the Tajik Army and the 27th Mountain Infantry Brigade of the French Army was conducted at the Fakhrobod training ground in Tajikistan.
May 26 – The first general meeting of shareholders of joint-stock company (OJSC) NBO Roghun took place at the Kokhi Vahdat State Complex in Dushanbe.
May 30-31 – Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Scotland, Mr. Struan Stevenson, visited Tajikistan.
May 31 – Tajik-Pakistani business forum took place in Dushanbe.
