DUSHANBE, April 13, 2009, Asia-plus — Speaking to reporters in Dushanbe on April 13, the First Deputy Prosecutor-General, Abdusami Dadaboyev, said that the Prosecutor General’s Office has resumed investigation into killing of commander of the special police unit Oleg Zakharchenko.
The final decision on this case will be adopted within the next few days, the deputy prosecutor said.
We will recall that the special police unit was attacked in Gharm, administrative center of the Rasht district on February 2 2008 after it was dispatched to the Rasht district headquarters of the regional directorate for combating organized crime. Circumstances of that incident still remain unclear. According to one version, the police unit was going to arrange a meeting of the local police directorate, while according to other version, they were seeking to arrest the directorate chief Mirzokhouja Ahmadov but were fired upon by gunmen loyal to Ahmadov. The 40-year old commander of the special police unit, Oleg Zakharchenko, was killed and four policemen sustained injuries in the shoot-out.
Mirzokhouja Ahmadov was one of field commanders of the United Tajik Opposition (UTO) in the Rasht Valley during the country”s civil war in the mid-1990s but was later appointed to a senior police post as part of a broader attempt at reintegrating former rebel leaders. He headed the regional directorate for combating organized crime in the Rasht Valley till October 2, 2008. By resolution issued by the Ministry of Interiors Mahmadnazar Solehov on October 2 the Rasht regional directorate for combating organized crime has been closed down.
