DUSHANBE, December 23, 2013, Asia-Plus – Resident of the Roudaki district, Alimurod Makhanov, who was arrested last September on suspicion of being leader of a terrorist group, has reportedly admitted his guilt partially during the preliminary investigation.
Makhanov’s defense lawyer, Umedjon Bobojonov, says criminal proceedings have been instituted against his client under the provisions of six articles of Tajikistan’s Penal Code. “Alimurod Makhanov, in particular, faces charges of involvement in terrorism and collaboration with organized criminal grouping,” Bobojonov said, noting that his client has admitted his guilt partially. The lawyer refrained from giving further details.
We will recall that the Interior Ministry’s press service released a statement on September 21, 2013 saying the six men have been arrested on suspicion of having been involved in terrorism.
Tajik law enforcement authorities identified the leader of the group as Alimurod Makhanov, who underwent training in terrorist camps in Pakistan. The group allegedly planned to stage attacks to disrupt a presidential election scheduled for November 6.
The leader of the terrorist group, Alimurod Makhanov, was shown on state television on September 24. He said they had planned to blow up several buildings, including buildings of the Ministry of Interior (MoI) and the State Committee for National Security (SCNS), as well as four gates to Dushanbe in order to disrupt the presidential elections scheduled for November 6.
Two members of this group, Ibrohim Huseinov from Roudaki district and Amirali Davlatov from the city of Kulob, were also shown on the television. They said they had planned to use water carrying trucks for carrying out explosions.
Alimurod Makhanov, 29, who is also known under the nickname “Ustod”, said that he joined the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) in 2011 and he headed the terrorist group numbering eight persons. Among them were citizens of Tajikistan, Turkey, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.
The group leader said he had undergone training in camps in Waziristan, Pakistan and had also sent several Tajik nationals, including his younger brother and neighbors, for training there.
Two pistols, subversive literature, manuals on carrying out terrorist acts, military uniforms and detonators were confiscated from the detained terrorists.
