DUSHANBE, July 20, 2011, Asia-Plus — Innocence of the BBC reporter Urunboy Usmonov has not yet been proven.
Minister of Interiors Abdurahim Qahhorov remarked this on July 20 while answering the question about the fact of detention of Urunboy Usmonov by police officers. “If the court found Urunboy Usmonov not guilty, police officers who participated in detention of him will be punished up to dismissal,” the minister stated.
We will recall that Urunboy Usmonov, 60, was detained on June 13 and accused of belonging to the banned Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir. Investigators have since dropped two initial charges. They had originally accused Usmonov of being a member of Hizb-ut-Tahrir and of making “public calls to forcibly change the constitutional system of Tajikistan.” The journalist is now being charged with failing to report the activities of the Hizb ut-Tahrir group to the Tajik law enforcement authorities.
