DUSHANBE, May 16, 2013, Asia-Plus — The Dushanbe mayor’s office has refused an application by customers of Tajikistan’s largest real estate development company, Movarounnahr, for permission to hold a demonstration outside the parliament building on June 3.
Shavkat Saidov, a spokesman for the Dushanbe mayor’s office, says an official reply to Movarounnahr customers’ application was sent to the Movarounnahr office on May 16 at 8:00 am.
We will recall that customers of Movarounnahr on May 14 applied to the Dushanbe mayor’s office for permission to hold a demonstration outside the parliament building on June 3.
The customers reportedly wanted to draw the leadership of the Tajik government”s attention to the problem of the half-finished facilities (eight apartment buildings) that were supposed to be put up for sale. Some 800 customers were expected to participate in the demonstration.
Meanwhile, the Movarounnahr acting director Tourabek Okhonov, who was taken to the State Committee for Nationals Security (SCNS)’s office for Dushanbe today morning, has been released.
“Tourabek Okhonov, the acting director of Movarounnahr was taken to SCNS’s office for Dushanbe today morning,” Buzurgmehr Yorov, an accredited representative of Movarounnahr told Asia-Plus in an interview on May 16.
According to him, Okhonov’s lawyer, Ms. Tamanno Ashourova, was not allowed to accompany him.
Ms. Ashourova supposed that security officers wanted to talk to Tourabek Okhonov about the mentioned demonstration.
“On May 15, Tourabek Okhonov was summoned to the police station in Dushanbe’s Sino district and according to him, they demanded that he dissuade Movarounnahr’s customers from holding the demonstration outside the parliament building,” the lawyer noted.
Tourabek Okhonov became acting director of the company, after his brother Jourabek Okhounov was arrested on November 2010.
On July 5, 2012, the Movarounnahr top manager Jourabek Okhonov was sentenced to 14 years in prison. The sentence followed his conviction on charges of a large-scale fraud, illegal entrepreneurship, and causing property loss by deception or abuse of confidence and misappropriation. The appeals court of Tajikistan”s Supreme Court considered an appeal by Jourabek Okhonov’s lawyers and partially acquitted him. The charge of causing property damage by deception or abuse of confidence was dropped and the court reduced Okhounov’s jail term by six months.
