Resident of Dushanbe dies in hospital following detention by police

DUSHANBE, November 1, 2011, Asia-Plus – The 28-year-old resident of Dushanbe Bahromiddin Shodiyev, who has been detained on suspicion of having committed a series of thefts, has died in a hospital following detention by police.

Relatives say Bahromiddin Shodiyev died on October 30 eleven days after he was beaten in a police station in Dushanbe’s Shohmansour district. 

Meanwhile, police say Shodiyev, who they suspected of having committed a series of thefts, tried to escape by jumping out of a second-floor window during his interrogation at the police station.

The Interior Ministry spokesman Mahmadullo Asadulloyev says Shodiyev had three previous convictions.  “He was detained on October 19 on suspicion of having committed a series of thefts.  “All the facts were proved and Shodiyev admitted to the thefts,” said Asadulloyev, “During the interrogation, he jumped out of the second-floor window.  Shodiyev was taken to the National Medical Center on October 20 where he died on October 30 of tuberculosis and splanchnopathy.”

Bahromiddin’s mother, Niyozbibi Bouriyeva, says her son suffered from drug addiction and they were going to hospitalize him on October 19, “but four police officers detained him not far from our house and took him to the police station in the Shohmansour district.”  “The next day, he was in the resuscitation department.  Physicians needed my permission for operation; that is why police informed me that my son is in the hospital,” Ms. Bouriyeva said.

According to her, Shodi told her that police officers severely beat him making him admit to the crimes he did not commit.  “He said they used beatings and electric shock to extort confessions,” said she.  “They closed his mouth with sticky tape so that he could not cry.  He was practically unconscious when heard that policemen were agreeing that if anything goes wrong they will say that he sustained injuries while jumping out the second-floor window.”

Physicians from the National Medical Center say Shodiyev had serious craniocerebral injury and intracerebral hematoma.

We will recall that similar incident took place in Dushanbe last March.  Safarali Sangov, 37, died on March 5 from severe injuries sustained in what his relatives say was a beating at a police station in Dushanbe”s Sino district.  Sangov”s relatives say several police participated in his arrest on March 1, suggesting that more than two police officers may have been involved in the beating that led to his death.

Police say Sangov committed suicide by jumping from a second-story set of stairs and, when he was then returned to an interrogation room, by repeatedly banging his head against a wall.

The trial of two former police officers charged over the death of Safarali Sangov began on June 2.  At the hearing on June 6, Prosecutor Zainiddin Jourayev announced that the defendants — former policemen Abdurahmon Yoqubov and Qodir Hasanov — have been officially charged with negligence that led to Sangov”s suicide.  Both were dismissed from the police force after they were charged.

Jourayev said the policemen did not handcuff Sangov with his hands behind his back, as required by regulations, but with his hands in front of him. That, Jourayev continued, gave Sangov the opportunity to commit suicide as he was able to push away his police escort.

But relatives of Safarali Sangov insist that Sangov was severely beaten and that his death was not suicide, but murder.

On September 14, the criminal case over the death of Safarali Sangov was remitted for further examination.