DUSHANBE, December 16, Asia-Plus — Hate crimes committed in Russia provoke public outrage not only in Tajikistan but also in the Russian Federation, an official statement released by the Russian embassy in Dushanbe today said.
“As far as the recent killing of Tajik national is concerned, we are strongly indignant at this horrible deed. The Russian Embassy strongly condemns this cynical crime and assesses it as provocation aimed at stirring up ethnic conflict and damaging friendly Russian-Tajik relations,” Vyacheslav Svetlichny, the Charge D”affaires at the Russian Embassy in Dushanbe, stated.
Russian diplomat stressed that solving hate crimes is one of priorities of the Russian law enforcement agencies. “The last crime is under special control of the law enforcement authorities,” said Svetlichny,
“The fact that special unified commission, comprising representatives of the investigation committee, criminal investigation department, federal security service and the recently established department for combating extremism, has been set up to investigate the crime is evidence of this…”
Svetlichny further noted that many incidents involving labor migrants have been occurring in place of their work. According to him, it could be explained by the fact that the number of foreign workers with low level of education has considerably increased. Besides, because of poor awareness of their legal and civil rights and obligations as well as poor knowledge of Russian many of labor migrations find themselves in irregular situations and that sometimes cause conflicts, he said. Moreover, not a few crimes are committed against Tajik nationals by their fellow-countrymen and citizens of other states, the charge d’affaires said.
According to the Russian Embassy in Dushanbe, the number of crimes committed by Tajik nationals in the Russia Federation has doubled over the past fiver year – from 4,100 in 2003 to 8,541 in 2008. 871 Tajik nationals have been convicted of crimes related to drug trafficking crimes. Tajik nationals are second place among foreign citizens in terms of the number of crimes committed in the Russian Federation.
On behalf of the Russian public, Svetlichny expressed sorrow at the tragedy and expressed condolences to relatives and friends of Salohiddin Azizov who was brutally killed in the Moscow region on December 5. He also expressed hope that Tajik public will show self-control over challenge cast by criminals.
We will recall that a group of some 10 persons attacked two Tajik men near the village of Zhabkino in the Moscow region on December 5, at around 11:30 p.m. Reports say the attackers fired shots, wounding one man who escaped, while the 20-year-old Salohiddin Azizov was beheaded. Azizov’s head was found in a plastic bag in a rubbish bin in Moscow on December 6. A group calling itself Combat Organization of Russian Nationalists claimed responsibility for the beheading.
