DUSHANBE, October 29, 2012, Asia-Plus — Lawyer Shuhrat Qudratov, hired by relatives of Abdulvosit Latipov, intends to determine Latipov’s whereabouts and obtain meeting with him.
“According to some sources, Latipov was abducted by unknown persons in Volgograd on October 20 and secretly transferred to Dushanbe on October 24,” said the lawyer.
“Currently, Latipov is reportedly being held in one of offices of the special services in Dushanbe, but the law enforcement authorities, however, have denied this information,” noted Latipov. “Therefore, I have applied to the Prosecutor-General’s Office with solicitation to determine Latipov’s whereabouts.”
Meanwhile, Mizaffar Latipov, the brother of Abdulvosit Latipov, told Asia-Plus Monday afternoon that they have received information from reliable sources that Abdulvosit is currently being held in Dushanbe.
Tajik national Abdulvosit Latipov, also known as Qori Vosit, was reportedly abducted in Volgograd on October 20 several days after release from local detention center, Russian media sources report.
Abdulvosit Latipov, who was wanted for alleged involvement in terrorist activities, was reportedly arrested by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) in Russia’s Chelyabinsk oblast in November 2010 on the extradition request of the Tajik authorities.
Latipov has been living in Russian under another name since 2004.
FSB identified him as the leader of a terrorist group that organized and carried out 25 terrorist acts that killed 43 people. The FSB said those killed include 19 Russian military officers based in Tajikistan in different attacks in the 1990s and Prosecutor-General Nurullo Huvaidulloyev in 1992.
The FSB also said Latipov served as a bodyguard to Hoji Akbar Turajonzoda, one of leaders of the Islamic opposition that fought government forces during the 1992-97 Tajik civil war.
Latipov was placed in a detention center # 1 in the Russian city of Volgograd.
On August 24, 2011 Prosecutor-General’s Office of the Russian Federation ordered the extradition of Latipov to Tajikistan but on December 22, 2011 at the request of the employee of “Migration and Law” Network lawyer Yulia Aksyonova Rule 39 of the European Court of Human Rights (EC(t)HR) was applied to the detainee. It prohibits his extradition to Tajikistan.
According to ECtHR, at the end of the maximum detention period on May 4, 2012 Latipov was released from prison, but was immediately detained by the Federal Migration Service (FMS) of Russia in Volgograd region. That occurred in a closed area, where he was not allowed to meet the lawyer. Latipov was taken to the Central District Court of Volgograd with the requirements of his administrative expulsion. The court granted the appeal of the expulsion and returned Latipov to jail.
Yulia Aksyonova reportedly immediately applied again to the European Court that reminded the Government that Latipov can not be either extradited or deported to Tajikistan. In addition, the lawyer filed an appeal to the Volgograd regional court.
On May 16, 2012 the Volgograd regional court overturned the decision on administrative expulsion and detention, and replaced it with a fine of 2,000 Russian rubles. However Latipov was not released.
Russian media outlets now report that Abdulvosit Latipov was abducted in Volgograd on October 20 this year several days after release from local detention center.
Earlier this year, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) expressed serious concern about the cases of disappearance of applicants subject to extradition in Russia.
Ferghana.ru, referring to Latipov’s defense lawyer Yulia Aksyonova, reports that he [Latipov] is under the protection of the European Court. The term of submission by the Russian Federation of written explanation over Latipov’s case to the European Court expires at the end of October. According to Latipov’s defense lawyer, the fax about abduction of Latipov has been sent to ECtHR.
We will recall that in 2011, Russian security forces extradited two active members of Latipov’s group – Zubaydullo Shoyev and Boymurod Khojayev – to Tajikistan. Tajik court sentenced Khojayev to 18 years in prison in August 2011 for involvement in murders committed in Tajikistan during the civil war.
