KULOB, October 25, 2008, Asia-Plus — The Khatlon regional court has allowed an objection made by the Kulob prosecutor’s office against verdict passed by the Temourmalik district court on Azamjon Mirzoyev, former head of the farming unit named after Safarzoda in the Vose district, in August this year, the deputy Khatlon prosecutor in charge of the Kulob region, Alfattoh Roziqov said in an interview with Asia-Plus.
According to him, another court will consider criminal proceedings instituted against Azamjon Mirzoyev.
As it had been reported earlier, the Temourmalik district court that considered criminal proceedings instituted against Mirzoyev passed a suspended sentence of one year on him. The Kulob prosecutor’s office found the verdict too mild and made the objection against verdict passed by Justice Abduqodir Valiyev.
We will recall that the Kulob prosecutor’s office issued an arrest warrant for Azamjon Mirzoyev, who is also known in the region as Azam the Business, in April this year.
From 1999 to 2006, Mirzoyev was head of the farming unit named after Safarzoda in the Vose district and over the mentioned period, he had illegally allotted plots, ranging from 0.1 to 13 hectares, to local residents for housing and sowing with various agricultural crops. A damage caused to the state by illegal actions of Mirzoyev has been estimated at 135,000 somoni (equivalent to $39,500), and the Kulob prosecutor’s office brought formal charges against Mirzoyev under the provisions of three articles of the Penal Code of Tajikistan – Article 247 (fraud), Article 295 (abuse of powers by employees of commercial and other organizations), and Article 334 (arbitrariness).
In the meantime, the Kulob anticorruption directorate has instituted criminal proceedings against Justice Valiyev himself, who faces charges of misuse of powers.
