QURGHON TEPPA, July 18, 2013, Asia-Plus — The body of a man bearing resemblance to the missing leader of ethnic Uzbeks in Khatlon province, Salim Shamsiddinov, has been found in the Amu Darya River in Uzbek territory with no signs of a violent death, Jamshed Nozimov, the chief of the criminal investigation department at the Interior Ministry’s office for Khatlon told reporters in Qurghon Teppa on July 18.
“We are currently preparing document for Shamsiddinov’s relatives so that they could go to Uzbekistan for identification of the body,” Nozimov said.
We will recall that Salim Shamsiddinov went missing on March 16.
Shamsiddinov, 58, was severely beaten by unknown attackers in May last year. That attack reportedly came after Shamsiddinov suggested in a series of interviews with Tajik media outlets that certain officials within the Tajik government were pursuing “nationalistic” policies.
Khatlon authorities have denied involvement in the disappearance of Salim Shamsiddinov.
Meanwhile, a statement released by Amnesty International (AI) on March 26 notes that Salim Shamsiddinov, a lawyer and leader of the Uzbek community in southern Tajikistan”s Khatlon province, went missing on March 15 in what may have been a political abduction.
“His family last saw Salim Shamsiddinov, aged 58, at 6.30 am on March 15 as he went out to do some exercise, dressed in an old tracksuit. When he did not return, they registered him with the police as missing the next day.
According to AI, Salim Shamsiddinov”s disappearance could have been a politically motivated abduction. He was reportedly severely beaten on May 5, 2012 by a group of three or four men on the street, opposite the building of the State Committee for National Security (SCNS)’s office for Khatlon in Qurghon Teppa.
“Local sources have linked this attack to media interviews that Salim Shamsiddinov had given, claiming that Tajikistan”s government was pursuing nationalistic policies. The leader of the opposition Social-Democratic Party, Rahmatillo Zoirov, has told the media that the disappearance of Salim Shamsiddinov appears to be politically motivated, and is connected with Salim Shamsiddinov”s active participation in a lobbying group to change the laws on the presidential election and his call for ethnic Uzbeks in Tajikistan to vote for Rahmatillo Zoirov in November”s presidential elections.
“At the time he went missing, Salim Shamsiddinov was preparing to talk to the press again on issues about discrimination against ethnic Uzbeks in the Khatlon region.”
