DUSHANBE, December 5, 2012, Asia-Plus – Russian law enforcement authorities have launched a probe into the abduction of Tajik national Abdulvosit Latipov, also known as “Qori Vosit,” in Volgograd.
Nezavisimaya Gazeta
reports the Investigative Committee’s office for Volgograd oblast has instituted criminal proceedings over abduction of Tajik national Abdulvosit Latipov.
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 following an extradition request by 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. In August 2011 the Russian Prosecutor General ordered his extradition. When Abdulvosit Latipov’s request for asylum in Russia was refused, his legal representative in Russia filed an application with the European Court of Human Rights. In December 2011 the Court issued interim measures under Rule 39 which require the Russian Federation to refrain from deporting Abdulvosit Latipov until his case has been fully considered by the Court.
Reportedly Latipov was released from detention on October 15, 2012 and days later forcibly taken from a flat he had been staying by unidentified armed men wearing masks.
According to some sources, Abdulvosit Latipov is currently being held incommunicado by Tajik law enforcement officers in an apartment in Dushanbe.
The Tajik authorities, however, deny this information as unfounded.
According to Radio Liberty, Abdulvosit Latipov’s family believes he was abducted by Tajik security forces and transferred home to face possible torture as a suspected terrorist.
Human rights groups in Russia say as many as 10 citizens of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and other Central Asian countries are believed to have been surreptitiously kidnapped and returned home in the past year. In each of the cases, the nationals had applied for asylum in Russia, fearing extradition to their home countries, where they were likely to face an unfair trial and even abuse.
