QURGHN TEPPA, May 20, 2010, Asia-Plus — The Khatlon prosecutor’s office has completed investigation into case of an alleged militant follower of the mutinous Colonel Mahmoud Khudoiberdiyev and the case has moved to a court.
Khusrav Gurayev, an investigator with the Khatlon prosecutor’s office, told Asia-Plus that criminal proceedings against Zokir Saymurodov, the resident of the city of Sarband, had been instituted under the provisions of three articles of Tajikistan’s Penal Code: Article 185, Part 1 (organization of illegal farmed formation); Article 306 (forcible capture of power or forcible retention of power); and Article 313 (armed mutiny).
According to him, Saymurodov joined the illegal armed formation of Mahmoud Khudoiberdiyev in 1997 and fought against the government forces. “Moreover, he along with other militant followers of Khudoiberdiyev took military training in neighboring Afghanistan and Uzbekistan,” the prosecutor said, noting that Zokir Saymurodov was detained in January this year.
We will recall that Colonel Mahmoud Khudoiberdiyev made two failed coup attempts in 1997 and 1998. After the failed coup attempt made in August 1997, Khudoiberdiyev and his supporters retreated via Shahritus and Beshkent into southern Uzbekistan. According to some sources, after leaving Tajikistan, the mutinous colonel and his militant followers moved through Uzbekistan into Afghanistan in November 1997. Khudoiberdiyev reportedly returned to Uzbekistan in June 1998. On November 4, 1998, Khdoiberdiyev’s armed group invaded Sughd province from Uzbekistan. A few days later the government regained control of the province. Some 100 people were reportedly killed in the Sughd clashes. Tajik Prosecutor-General’s Office instituted criminal proceedings against Khudoiberdiyev under the provisions of two articles of Tajikistan’s Penal Code (high treason and coup attempt) and has repeatedly requested Uzbek authorities to extradite Khudoiberdiyev to Tajikistan.
