DUSHANBE, April 3, Asia-Plus — The Prosecutor-General’s Office has not yet formally brought charges against two Tajik nationals – Masrurjon Yatimov and Najmiddin Muhiddinov- who are suspected of killing of Ilyas Shurpayev, a reporter for Russia’s Channel One television, Bahodour Homidov, an official with the Prosecutor-General’s Office, said in an interview with Asia-Plus today.
According to him, they have not yet received criminal case opened by the Russian Prosecutor’s Office. “We should receive the case from Moscow and after that criminal case will be opened in Tajikistan and during 10 days the suspects will be accused of killing of the Russian reporter,” the prosecutor said, noting that Yatimov and Muhiddinov are currently held in pretrial detention facility.
Homidov noted that the Prosecutor-General’s Office will investigate the case in cooperation with Ministry of Interior (MoI). He also noted that the Russian Prosecutor-General’s Office has not yet applied to them for extradition of the suspects.
We will recall that a joint Tajik-Russian police operation led to the arrest of two Tajik nationals suspected of having killed Ilyas Shurpayev.
Yatimov and Muhiddinov allegedly killed the Russian reporter in his rented apartment in Moscow during the night of March 20-21 and stole 150,000 Russian rubles (RR). The next day after killing they flew to Tajikistan, where they were detained on March 29. Later, Tajik police arrested Ziyoviddin Muhiddinov, the brother of Najmiddin Muhiddinov, who faces charge of not reporting the crime.
