DUSHANBE, December 16, 2011, Asia-Plus — The murder of Bakhtiyor Rasoulov in St. Petersburg is a domestic homicide.
Mahmadali Vatanov, the head of the Majlisi Namoyandagon (Tajikistan’s lower chamber of parliament) Committee on Legislation and Human Rights, remarked this at a regular sitting of the third session of the Majlisi Namoyandagon of the fourth convocation on December 16.
We will recall that Mahmadali Vatanov was sent to St. Petersburg on December 6 to monitor the investigation into the killing of a Tajik national in St. Petersburg. Vatanov stayed in St. Petersburg until December 11 and met with St. Petersburg authorities and representatives of Tajik labor migrants in Russia while there.
Beheaded body of Tajik national Bakhtiyor Rasoulov was found with numerous stab wounds in a burned-out car in St. Petersburg”s outskirts on November 16. Bakhtiyor Rasoulov, from the southern Khatlon province, had worked as a taxi driver in St. Petersburg for several years.
The brutal killing of Tajik national drew a wide public response in Tajikistan and the St. Petersburg law enforcement authorities assured that all necessary measures are taken to solve the crime.
Tajik parliament speaker Shukurjon Zuhurov in later November publicly condemned the killing and expressed the hope that Russian law enforcement services “will prevent such shameful acts in the future.”
MP Vatanov noted on Friday that he made certain that the St. Petersburg law enforcement authorities are taking all necessary measures to solve the crime. “I speak responsibly that this crime was not committed on a nationalistic basis, it is purely domestic homicide,” Vatanov stated.
He also noted that issues related to observance of rights of Tajik labor migrants had been discussed during a meeting with representatives from the authorities of St. Petersburg and Leningrad oblast.
Safiallo Devonayev, the head of Tajikistan’s Migration Service, also delivered a report on thelabor migration problems at a December 16 sitting of the Majlisi Namoyandagon.
He said that report released by some media outlets that the Russian authorities allegedly had begun a mass deportation of Tajik nationals did not correspondent to the facts.
Devonayev noted that official statistics show that last year Russia deported 3,157 Tajiks to their homeland, while since the beginning of this year 2,066 Tajik nationals have been deported from the Russia Federation.
“Last year, more than 17,000 Tajiks got legal work permits in Russia,” said Devonayev. “This year, 125,000 Tajik nationals have obtained work permits in the Russian Federation.”
Following reports by Vatanov and Devonayev, the Majlisi Namoyandagon passed a resolution on protection of rights of Tajik labor migrants working abroad. Under this resolution, relevant public services are tasked to organize vocational training and Russian language courses for potential migrant workers.
