DUSHANBE, April 22, 2014, Asia-Plus – Chairman of the Social-Democratic Party of Tajikistan (SDP), Rahmatillo Zoyirov, has sent letters to the interior ministry and the head of the State Committee for National Security (SCNS) asking to receive him over a December 12 attack on SDP’s head office in Dushanbe.
“Much time has passed since that incident but the law enforcement authorities have not yet investigated it and no measures have been taken against offenders so far,” Rahmatillo Zoyirov told Asia-Plus in an interview.
According to him, he sent the letters on April 16 and has not yet received responses to them.
We will recall that some two dozen female protesters on December 12 noisily disrupted a press conference of the Social-Democratic Party to criticize its leader Rahmatillo Zoyirov and heap praise on President Emomali Rahmon. SDP leader was speaking to the media about his recent visit to Kyiv.
The women even accused the party of being involved in the July 2012 bloody clashes in Khorog, the capital of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO), which followed the fatal stabbing of a top security official there. The women demanded Zoyirov “let Rahmon work as he was elected by a majority of Tajikistan”s citizens.” They told reporters not to listen to Zoyirov”s “nonsense” and said he isn”t “content with peace” in Tajikistan.
Journalists recognized some familiar faces in the crowd. At least two of the women had taken part in a rally outside the U.S. Embassy in Dushanbe in April protesting the release of a Tajik opposition figure detained in Ukraine. At that rally, the women blamed the U.S. authorities for helping secure the release of former Tajik Prime Minister Abdumalik Abdullojonov, who has U.S. residency.
SDP representatives accused the authorities of using “rent-a-crowd” women to put pressure on government opponents.
Founded in 2002, the Social-Democratic Party was registered on December 20, 2002. It was originally registered as the Party of Justice and Development in 1999. Tajikistan”s Ministry of Justice requested the same year that the Supreme Court ban the party”s activities and its registration was canceled. The party re-emerged and was registered under the name of the Social-Democratic Party in late 2002. Chairman of the Social-Democratic Party is Rahmatillo Zoyirov and the party reportedly has 7,700 members.
