KHUJAND, February 18, 2013, Asia-Plus — Resident of the northern province of Sughd has got a jail term of ten years for membership in the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU).
The Khujand city court sentenced resident of Panjakent, Fakhriddin Bozorov, 40, to ten years in prison and confiscation of his personal property on February 17. The sentence followed his conviction on charges of participation in a criminal grouping (Article 187 (2) of Tajikistan’s Penal Code) and organization of activities of an extremist grouping (Article 307 (2) of Tajikistan’s Penal Code). Bozorov will serve his term in a high-security penal colony.
Mr. Justice Musulmon Sharipov, who presided over the trial, says, “The preliminary investigation has established that Fakhriddin Bozorov joined the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan in 2008.” He was arrested by officers from the State Committee for National Security (SCNS)’s office for Sughd in Khujand on September 16, 2012.
According to data of the Sughd prosecutor’s office, local prosecutors investigated cases of 72 active members of Hizb ut-Tahrir, Jamaati Tabligh and the IMU in 2012 and eleven cases already moved to courts. The Sughd prosecutor’s office, however, did not detail the outcome of the cases.
The IMU, which says it wants to establish an Islamic Caliphate in Central Asia, is believed to have links with the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. It had been active in the region, but moved its operations to neighboring Afghanistan in recent years.
Tajikistan reportedly saw a spike in militant activity in 2010 that led to the deaths of dozens of troops.
