DUSHANBE, November 2, 2012, Asia-Plus — Tajik law enforcement authorities have not yet detained anybody for arson in connection with a September 5 fire that seriously damaged the Korvon marketplace on the outskirts of Dushanbe.
An official source at the Prosecutor-General’s Office says the criminal proceedings have been instituted under the provisions of three articles of Tajikistan’s Penal Code: Article 192 (3) – violation of fire safety regulations; Article 322 (2) – negligence; and Article 309 (1) – subversive act.
“The preliminary investigation is going on and we are taking measures to detect persons who could be involved in the fire,” the source noted.
Meanwhile, a source at the Interior Ministry main firefighting department says that according to the findings of examination, the fire at the Korvon marketplace was arson. “The examination has eliminated the possibility that the fire was caused by an electrical malfunction or a gas blast,” he added.
We will recall that the fire that broke out at the Korvon marketplace on the Dushanbe outskirts late on September 5 destroyed one of the market”s major buildings and numerous trade stands where goods were stored.
Officials said one person was killed in the fire and four others were hospitalized with burns.
On September 6, hundreds of vendors who lost their goods in the deadly fire held a march in Dushanbe to demand that authorities compensate them for their losses.
Dushanbe Mayor Mahmadsaid Ubaidulloyev met with the vendors on the same day and promised to arrange compensation and deals with local banks to delay credit payments due by the vendors.
The marketplace owner Nurshed Mashrabov who believes that the fire was arson has offered a reward of 150,000 somoni (equivalent to some 30,000 U.S. dollars) for those who help to find the incendiaries.
It is to be noted that there have been previous fires at the same marketplace.
