KHUJAND, December 15, 2008, Asia-Plus – Allonazar Shifonshoyev (phonetically spelled), a private soldier with one of military units deployed in Sughd’s Spitamen district, who was severely beaten by older soldiers on November 29, is still in the central regional hospital in Khujand, the capital of the Sughd province.
Physicians note that his health condition is improving, “however, he will stay in the neurology department for several other days.”
According to the Sughd regional hospital administration, at first, the soldier being unconscious was taken to the central district hospital in Spitamen, where physicians diagnosed his health condition as moderately severe. Later, the soldier was transferred to the resuscitation department within the central regional hospital in Khujand.
“Injury was not serious, but it was accompanied neurological disease and hysteric reaction,” said Alisher Shukurov, the head of the neurology department, “He will stay at the hospital for some ten days.”
Experts note that the problem of “dedovshchina,” the often brutal hazing of new recruits by older soldiers, still remains quite widespread in the Tajik army.
