DUSHANBE, November 3, 2014, Asia-Plus – Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reports that a human rights group in Tajikistan has urged the government to compensate families of army conscripts killed in hazing incidents.
In a statement issued on November 3, the Amparo human rights center said at least two conscripts have been killed and one left paralyzed in bullying incidents this year.
In June, a Tajik Army sergeant was sentenced to nine years in jail for beating a conscript to death during a hazing incident in the northern Khujand Province.
Violent hazing has been a persistent problem in former Soviet republics.
Amparo is based in the provincial capital of Khujand, Tajikistan”s second-largest city.
The group also said that raids across Tajikistan to round up young men avoiding conscription have decreased in frequency but continue.
Two years of military service is mandatory for men aged 18-27 in Tajikistan.
