DUSHANBE, July 16, 2008, Asia-Plus — Uzbek special services were involved in last year’s bombing near the Supreme Court building in Dushanbe, the head of the Supreme Court Nusratullo Abdulloyev announced at a press conference in Dushanbe today.
We will recall that an explosion struck the Supreme Court building on June 16, 2007. No one was hurt in the explosion, although windows were shattered and a part of the structure was damaged. Dushanbe”s chief prosecutor, Qurbonali Muhabbatov, contended that “terrorists” may have been behind the attack, which he said was aimed at intimidation.
A court in Dushanbe on July 10, 2008 sentenced the 27-year-old resident of Dushanbe Komiljon Ishonqulov, who is charged with carrying out a bombing near the Supreme Court, to 22 years in jail. The sentencing of Ishonqulov had followed his conviction of terrorism, illegally possessing weapons and explosives, contraband, and high treason.
Speaking to reporters, Nusratullo Abdulloyev said that Ishonqulov was detained in a month after the bombing. “The investigation has established that on June 14 2007, Ishonqulov met in the Uzbek city of Denau with his friend Said, working for the Uzbek special services. Said passed him the order of officers from the Uzbek National Security Service (SNB) to carry out a bombing in Dushanbe for the purpose of destabilizing the situation,” Abdulloyev said.
To make sure that the action will be carried out the Uzbek security officers decided that Uzbek national Jamshed Semirkhanov will accompany Ishonqulov, according to the judge. “On June 16, they illegally crossed the Tajik-Uzbek border and got Dushanbe, where they put explosive at the fence of the Supreme Court building,” said Abdulloyev, “On June 17, they returned to Uzbekistan.” According to him, the Uzbek special services promised to pay $5,000 to Ishonqulov for that action.
“According to reliable data, former chief of the Hissor police department also one of ex-leaders of the pro-government Popular Front during the country”s civil war in the mid-1990s, Bobosubkhon Mirzoyev, hides himself under the name of Said,” said the judge. “Mirzoyev has been wanted by Tajik law enforcement authorities for many years and we have repeatedly applied to the Uzbek side requesting to extradite him; however, we have not yet received any reply form the”
