DUSHANBE, August 8, 2012, Asia-Plus — The appeals court of the Supreme Court is currently considering an appeal lodged by 53 people convicted over deadly Khujand car bombing. They are mainly residents of Isfara, Istaravshan and Spitamen districts and the city of Khujand.
A source at the Supreme Court says the appeals court began its work on this case on August 7. “Yesterday, the appeals court considered the Sughd regional court’s verdict against Firdavs Karimov, Sohibjon Sobitov, Ismatullo Boboyev, Zafar Karimov and Akmal Hoshimov, who were sentenced to life imprisonment,” the source noted.
We will recall that that the Sughd regional court on December 23, 2011 convicted 53 people for involvement in a deadly 2010 car bombing, declaring 43 of the defendants members of the outlawed Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). The court said in a statement that five of those convicted will spend the rest of their lives in prison, while the 48 others received jail sentences of eight to 30 years. The trial”s proceedings were not public.
On September 3, 2010, a suicide bomber drove a car packed with explosives into the main gate of the Sughd regional organized crime control division in Khujand. The vehicle was driven at high speed into the gated compound of the organized crime control division — as the gate was closing after two police cars entered the complex — and the car exploded. Two policemen and two civilians died in the attack, and 28 people more were injured. It was the first-ever such suicide bombing reported in Tajikistan.
Tajik law enforcement authorities blamed the attack on elements with ties to the banned Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), whose leadership purportedly has links to Al-Qaeda.
The State Committee for National Security (SCNS)’s office in Sughd province announced on October 5, 2010 that the suicide bomb attack was carried out by Akmal Karimov, whom it identified as a member of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU).
