ST. PETERSBURG, March 1, 2012, Asia-Plus – At last the body of Tajik national, Bakhtiyor Rasoulov, who was killed in St. Petersburg more than three months ago, will be sent to Tajikistan within the next few days.
One of Bakhtiyor’s relatives who is currently in St. Petersburg has told Asia-Plus that he regularly gets in touch on the phone with investigators, but he does not yet know, whether the crime is solved or not.
“The next meeting with investigators is set for tomorrow and we hope for any news,” said he. “At least they promised to give us permit to take the body of Bakhtiyor to Tajikistan. We could not take his body for more than three months because of various forensic medical examinations.”
Meanwhile, in a report released a regular sitting of the Majlisi Namoyandagon (Tajikistan’s lower chamber of parliament), Mahmadali Vatanov, the head of the Majlisi Namoyandagon Committee on Legislation and Human Rights, noted on December 16, 2011 that the murder of Bakhtiyor Rasoulov in St. Petersburg is a domestic homicide.
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.
MP Vatanov noted on December 16 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.
As it had been reported earlier, 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, 2011. 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.
