DUSHANBE, October 13, 2011, Asia-Plus — The criminal case over the death of Safarali Sangov has been remitted for further examination, Ms. Gulchehra Kholmatova, the defense lawyer of the injured party, told Asia-Plus in an interview Thursday afternoon.
According to her, contradiction in witness statements made during the preliminary investigation has been revealed. “Therefore, we considered that the trial has not been conducted impartially and solicit the judge on September 14 to remit the case for further examination,” said the lawyer. “The judge ordered to remit the case for further examination but a prosecution in the trial objected.”
Now all participants in the legal proceedings are waiting for decision of the board for criminal cases of Dushanbe’s city court.
We will recall that the trial of two former police officers charged over the death of a detainee began on June 2.
Safarali Sangov died in hospital in March from severe injuries sustained in what his relatives say was a beating at a police station in Dushanbe”s Sino district. Sangov”s relatives say several police participated in his arrest on March 1, suggesting that more than two police officers may have been involved in the beating that led to his death.
Police say Sangov committed suicide by jumping from a second-story set of stairs and, when he was then returned to an interrogation room, by repeatedly banging his head against a wall.
At the hearing on June 6, Prosecutor Zainiddin Jourayev announced that the defendants — former policemen Abdurahmon Yoqubov and Qodir Hasanov — have been officially charged with negligence that led to Sangov”s suicide. Both were dismissed from the police force after they were charged.
Jourayev said the policemen did not handcuff Sangov with his hands behind his back, as required by regulations, but with his hands in front of him. That, Jourayev continued, gave Sangov the opportunity to commit suicide as he was able to push away his police escort.
But relatives of Safarali Sangov insist that Sangov was severely beaten and that his death was not suicide, but murder.
