DUSHANBE, March 28, Asia-Plus – Tajik law enforcement agencies will offer any kind of assistance to Russian colleagues in establishing the people involved in the murder of Russian TV Channel One reporter Ilyas Shurpayev, police Colonel Haidar Mahmadiyev told Itar-Tass on Thursday.
The chief of the general headquarters of the Tajik Interior Ministry commented on reports in Russian media outlets on Thursday that the supposed murderers of the Russian reporter were staying in Dushanbe.
Mahmadiyev confirmed the arrival in Dushanbe of an investigation group of the Moscow criminal department. Interior Minister Mahmadnazar Solehov has pledged all kind of assistance, he said. At the same time, Mahmadiyev has no information on the detention in the republic of any people suspected of killing the Russian journalist.
He stressed that if suspected criminals are found in Tajikistan and turn out to be Tajik nationals, under the Minsk Convention they will not be extradited to Russia. The Tajik side will then conduct the investigation, the colonel said.
Ilyas Shurpayev was killed in a rented apartment in Moscow on March 21. The killer set the apartment to fire, and the journalist’s body was found by firemen. He had a belt around his neck. The Moscow bureau of the Prosecutor General’s Office Investigation Committee opened the criminal case on the murder charges. Shurpayev was buried at a Muslim cemetery in his hometown of Makhachkala on March 25.
