DUSHANBE, August 23, 2011, Asia-Plus – Exactly a year ago, on August 23, 2010, 25 convicts, including 14 Tajik nationals and 11 foreigners, escaped from the pretrial detention facility of the State Committee for National Security (SCNS) in Dushanbe. Practically all the fugitives had been recaptured or killed.
We will recall that 25 convicts serving long jail terms escaped from the State Committee for National Security (SCNS)’s detention facility in Dushanbe in the early hours of morning of August 23 2010, killing four prison guards. Dressing in camouflage, the escapees fled toward eastern Tajikistan. The majority of the fugitives were among 46 people convicted by the Supreme Court on August 19, 2010 of terrorism, drug trafficking, and seeking the forcible overthrow of the government. The escaped prisoners include six Russian citizens, four Afghans, and two Uzbeks. Most were accused of participating in the 2009 armed rebellion in Tavildara.
President Emomali Rahmon fired almost the entire leadership of the security services after the jailbreak.
To-date, Tajik security forces have recaptured or killed 24 high-profile prison escapees, leaving just one of the 25 escapees still on the run, according to Tajik law enforcement authorities. He is relative of ex-Minister of Emergencies Mirzo Ziyoev, Azamsho Ziyoev, 42, who is also known under the nickname “Azami Panjara.” He was serving his prison sentence on charges of participation in a criminal grouping, illegal storage of weapons, attempt of forcible seizure of power, etc. “We have information about approximate whereabouts of Azamsho Ziyoev,” the Interior Ministry spokesman Mahmadullo Asadulloyev said, noting that a search operation for Azamsho Ziyoev is under way.
In early May this year, the Supreme Court’s military board jailed four men for life in connection with the mass jailbreak. Three other men were sentenced to 30 years in prison for their part in the escape from the SCNS-run prison in Dushanbe. Those jailed for 30 years include Abdurasoul Mirzoyev, the brother of imprisoned former chief of the presidential guard, Ghaffor Mirzoyev. The court also found three other men guilty of helping the escapees reach safe locations. The sentences were handed down on May 3 and officially confirmed on May 4.
