DUSHANBE, August 13, 2009, Asia-Plus — Another alleged supporter of the rebellious Colonel Mahmoud Khudoyberdiev has been arrested in Tajikistan.
According to the Ministry of Interior (MoI), the 38-year-old Abdughaffor Qodirov was detained in Khatlon’s Qubodiyon district yesterday on suspicion of having been supporter of Mahmoud Khudoyberdiev.
“The preliminary investigation has established that Qodirov joined the illegal armed group of a certain Ghoibnazarov in 1996. Members of this group that had been active in Qubodiyon and Shahritus districts in the 1990s had committed a number of serious crimes,” said the source at a MoI, “All these crimes were committed during the first campaign by the armed group of Mahmoud Khudoyberdiev against Dushanbe in January 1996.”
Criminal proceedings have been instituted against Qodirov under the provisions of several articles of Tajikistan’s Penal Code. He faces charges of banditry, hostage taking, robbery and illegal possession of weapons.
As it had been reported earlier, 48-year-old resident of Hissor, Taghoymurod Ibrohimov, was detained on August 4 on suspicion of having been supporter of Mahmoud Khudoyberdiev. Ibrohimov reportedly too part in criminal raids made by the armed group of Mahmoud Khudoyberdiev in January 1996 and January-August 1997
The rebellious Colonel Mahmoud Khudoyberdiev was behind a failed 1998 coup attempt in Tajikistan.
According to Tajik law enforcement authorities, eight former members of the illegal armed group of the fugitive Colonel Mahmoud Khudoyberdiev have been detained in Tajikistan since the beginning of this year. They face charges of having committed 33 crimes, including 13 killings, 4 hostage taking cases, as well as banditry, terrorist, etc.
Tajikistan has long sought the capture of Khudoyberdiev, a former Tajik army officer who led about 1,000 fighters in a 1998 attack against government forces in the Sughd province.
