DUSHANBE, March 10, 2015, Asia-Plus – Tajik opposition movement Group 24 leader Umarali Quvvatov was buried on March 9 in Istanbul, where he was shot dead last week.
Meanwhile, Turkish media sources report three Tajik men were arrested on suspicion of involvement in Quvvatov’s killing.
Turkish news agency
Haber
reports they were plotting the murder of Quvvatov for three months.
Quvvatov”s wife, Qumriniso Hofizova, told RFE/RL on March 8 that her husband had been shot in the head on a street in Istanbul by an unidentified attacker last week. She confirmed earlier reports saying that on March 5, she, Quvvatov, and their two sons had been invited for dinner at the house of Sulaymon Qayumov, a 30-year-old Tajik citizen who has been residing in Istanbul for several months.
Hofizova said that she, Quvvatov, and their sons felt sick after consuming food offered by Qayumov and rushed out for fresh air. An ambulance eventually arrived at around 10:30 p.m. When they were outside, Hofizova said, an unidentified man approached Quvvatov from behind and fired a single shot to his head before fleeing. Quvvatov died at the scene.
Turkish media outlets report Umarali Quvvatov together with his family lived in a mosque in Istanbul’s Fatih district. Sulaymon Qayumov reportedly also lived in that mosque.
Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reports Umarali Quvvatov was buried at the Kilyos cemetery. The burial followed the janoza, the Islamic funeral prayer ceremony, conducted at the Fatih Mosque in Istanbul”s Fatih district.
A tycoon who reportedly once had close ties to President Emomali Rahmon’s family but became an opponent, Umarali Quvvatov was wanted by the Tajik authorities on fraud charges that he said were politically motivated.
Umarali Quvvatov first made headlines in the summer of 2012 when he fled Tajikistan for Moscow. There he formed an organization called Group 24, which he claims is a new political movement opposed to incumbent President Rahmon.
In December 23, 2012, Quvvatov was arrested in Dubai at the request of Tajik authorities. He has been accused of illegally obtaining about $1.2 million through fraudulent business activities. Quvvatov denounced the fraud case against him and accused Tajik President Emomali Rahmon of running a “totalitarian regime.” In an open letter smuggled out of the detention center, Umarali Quvvatov said the accusations leveled against him were “a direct consequence” of his battle against the “oppression of the Tajik people” by Rahmon”s government. Quvvatov was released from the detention center in Dubai on September 26, 2013.
Tajikistan”s Supreme Court banned Group 24 on October 9, 2014 following growing government pressure on the opposition group after it used the Internet to call for street protests in the capital, Dushanbe, on October 10.
Supreme Court judge Salomat Hakimova ruled that Group 24 is an extremist organization, and therefore, is banned in Tajikistan. Its website and printed materials were also banned.
On December 19, 2014, Umarali Quvvatov was arrested in Istanbul, Turkey fro visa violations, but he was released on February 3, 2015 and relatively little had been heard from him since.
