DUSHANBE, June 1, 2015, Asia-Plus:
May 1 – Tajik OMON (special police unit) commander Gulmurod Halimov reportedly left Dushanbe along with 10 other men, described by some sources as mostly unemployed men. According to some of his friends and colleagues, Halimov turned into an Islamic (IS) group fanatic and began to promote the terrorist organization”s ideas among his friends and acquaintances.
May 2 – Tajik special police unit commander Gulmurod Halimov and those ten companions were seen at Moscow”s Sheremetyevo International Airport. They reportedly traveled to Syria to join IS militants;
– A court in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod sentenced four Tajik nationals — suspected members of the banned Hizb ut-Tahrir extremist organization — to at least eight years in prison on terrorism and extremism charges. According to the court officials, the defendants had acquired explosive materials to carry out a terrorist attack at the city”s main shopping center. “The defendants were found guilty of involvement in the activities of an extremist organization, plotting a terror attack, and illegal possession of explosive substances and ammunition, and were sentenced to eight to 10 years at a high-security prison,” the officials said. They were arrested in 2012. The court didn”t release the defendants” names.
May 3 – By president’s decree Jamshed Nourmahmadzoda, who had previously served as Chairman of the Board of Amonatbonk (Tajikistan’s savings bank), was appointed to head the National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT) replacing Abdujabbor Shirinov. Abdujabbor Shirinov had been head of Tajik central bank since January 24, 2012. All deputy chairpersons of the National Bank of Tajikistan were also replaced. Jamoliddin Nouraliyev, formerly First Deputy Minister of Finance, was appointed First Deputy Chairman of the National Bank of Tajikistan.
May 4 – Authorities in Tajikistan detained a Turkish citizen of Afghan origin on suspicion of recruiting for the Islamic State (IS) militant group. A 50-year-old Mehdi Yakus arrived in Tajikistan on March 16, officially as a tourist, and soon came under suspicion. Officials said Yakus stayed in a village populated mainly by ethnic Uzbeks in the western Roudaki district, where he promised to find jobs in Turkey for four local residents in their 20s. Authorities launched an investigation after they learned that Yakus planned to settle the four Tajiks in a Turkish village close to the border with Syria, where IS militants are fighting government forces;
– Bilateral consultations between Tajikistan and Pakistan were held in Islamabad. The delegations reportedly discussed issues related to further expansion of political and economic cooperation between their countries. The sides noted that they share similar stances on important international issues.
May 5 – A court in the northern city of Khujand sentenced 23 residents of Sughd province to various jail terms. The defendants are residents of Istaravshan, Bobojonghafourov and Isfara, aged 20 to 35. They were found guilty of being members of a banned Islamic group Jamaat Ansarullah, organizing a criminal group (Article 187 (2) of Tajikistan’s Penal Code), organizing an extremist group (Article 307 (2) of Tajikistan’s Penal Code) and organizing an activity of an extremist group (Article 307 (3) of Tajikistan’s Penal Code). The ringleader was sentenced to 17 ½ years in prison and seventeen members of this group were sentenced to 9 ½ years in prison each. Four other defendants were sentenced to one year in jail each for not reporting a crime. The men were reportedly were arrested last year. It has been established that they joined the banned group while they were in Russia as migrant laborers;
– The Dushanbe military court convicted six Interior Ministry soldiers of hazing and sentenced them to prison terms ranging from two to 2 1/2 years. The six servicemen severely beat fellow soldier Akbarhoja Abdurahmonov in November, shattering his jaw. The trial was one of several in recent months targeting servicemen accused of such abuse. But lawyers for the defendants said that, by law, the punishment for the crime they were convicted of ranges from five to 10 years in prison;
– A Tajik high school student, Khoushdil Qurbonov, was detained posing as a member of president’s family and making off with thousands in bribes in return for presidential favors. Khoushdil Qurbonov, who has a passing resemblance to President Emomali Rahmon”s 16-year-old son, Somon, is accused of defrauding several people since 2014. Government officials were among the victims, some of whom paid tens of thousands of dollars to Qurbonov. The teenager”s debut on the bribery scene reportedly netted him $50,000 from a Dushanbe resident who was seeking a parcel of land, the state anticorruption agency said on national television.
May 7 – Farrukh Sharifov, a former militant from the northern city of Khujand, publicly expressed remorse for joining Islamic State (IS) group in Syria. Farruh Sharifov addressed a large audience at the Jami State Complex in Dushanbe. He provided a gruesome account of his time fighting in Syria, saying he was appalled by the cruel and “barbaric” actions he witnessed. Sharifov said that many people were beheaded by Islamic State (IS) militants on the basis of unproven accusations, with no proper investigations or legitimate trials;
– The Khujand city court sentenced a resident of the Bobojonghafourov district, D.H., to three years in jail. The sentence reportedly followed his conviction on charges of being member of the outlawed Salafi group and organizing activities of an extremist group. An official source at the Khujand city court says he was arrested by security officers in February this year and subversive literature was found in his home. The Tajik authorities banned Salafism as an illegal group on January 8, 2009, saying the Salafi movement represents a potential threat to national security and the Supreme Court added Salafists to its list of religious groups prohibited from operating in the country.
May 8 – Tajik President Emomali Rahmon congratulated the people of Tajikistan on the Great Victory Day. On the occasion of Victory Day, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon laid a wreath at the Military Glory Memorial in Dushanbe’s Victory Park. After him, representatives of the government and the parliament, Tajik power-wielding structures and diplomatic corps as well as the Russian military base in Tajikistan laid wreaths at the Military Glory Memorial in Dushanbe’s Victory Park. The commemoration ceremony reportedly ended with a military parade.
May 8-9 – Tajik President Emomali Rahmon attended an informal CIS summit in Moscow that took place in Moscow on May 8 and extensive celebrations to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 that were held in Moscow on May 9.
May 9 – Tajikistan celebrates the 70th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War o 1941- 1945.
May 11-12 – Torrential rain caused a series of mudslide that caused damage to a number of districts in Khatlon province.
May 11-15 – Tajik Foreign Minister Sirojiddin Aslov visited India at the invitation of External Affairs Minister of India, Mrs. Sushma Swaraj. A new Program of Cooperation between the Foreign Ministries of the two countries for the years 2015-2017 was signed in New Delhi on May 13.
May 12-20 – An exercise for limited mobile groups from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) member nations which are parts of the Collective Operational Reaction Force (CORF) created within the framework of the CSTO took place at the Harbmaydon training ground in the Tajik southern province of Khatlon. The CORF contingents reportedly practiced quickly deploying to the border of Tajikistan.
May 15 – The Sughd regional court sentenced Rustam Jourayev, the director of Bobojonghafourov’s Nazari Nek bazaar, to 17½ years in prison for beating teenager to death. Jourayev shared the dock with the bazaar guard chief Ahliddin Fayziyev and one of the bazaar guards, Bobour Yusupov. Ahliddin Fayziyev and Bobour Yusupov were sentenced to 16 years and three months each. The sentence followed their conviction on charges of killing of a person known to be minor or the helpless (Article 104 of Tajikistan’s Penal Code) and deliberately inflicting light bodily harm (Article 112). The Nazari Nek bazaar director Rustam Jourayev, the bazaar guard chief Ahliddin Fayziyev and the bazaar guard Bobour Yusupov detained two inmates of the Chkalovsk boarding school on the bazaar’s territory in the night of January 15. The teenagers reportedly stole food products and 380 somoni. The men severely beat the teenagers and one of them died later in hospital.
May 17 – A mudslide killed at least two dead in the Roudaki district. The tragedy took place in the Sultonobod jamoat. The Abdulloyeva sisters, the 18-year-old Mariam and the 15-year-old Khairnisso, were killed by the mudslide while shepherding. The bodies of the girls were recovered and handed over to their relatives.
May 18 – The Tajik Prosecutor-General’s Office launched investigation into fake documents purporting to allow observant Muslims to wear a beard or hijab and criminal proceedings were instituted under the provisions of two articles of Tajikistan’s Penal Code: Article 189 – incitement of racial ethnic, regional or religious enmity; and Article 340 – document forgery. The Committee on Religious Affairs and Regulation of National Traditions and Rituals under the Government of Tajikistan (CRA) in late April applied to residents of Tajikistan with solicitation to help reveal swindlers engaged in issuing fake documents purporting to allow observant Muslims to wear a beard or hijab. The permits, adorned with an official-looking stamp, allegedly go for 250 somoni each. “No one has the right to issue such documents,” the CRA said in a statement, noting that the idea of such permits is “absurd”;
– Tajik Deputy Foreign Minister, Nizomiddin Zohidi, received a delegation of the National Defense College of India. Zohidi briefed Indian guests on bilateral cooperation between Tajikistan and India in the fields of commerce, energy, defense, and regional security. He reportedly also underlined the significance of investment cooperation between the two countries and wide use of transit potential of Tajikistan and Afghanistan for providing sustainable development, peace and stability in the region.
May 19 – Tajikistan-German business forum took place in Dushanbe.
May 20 – The meeting of the Committee of Security Secretaries from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) took place in Khujand, the capital of the Tajik northern province of Sughd today to discuss problems of international security, measures to address existing challenges and threats and the latest developments in Afghanistan. Security Secretaries from Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russian and Tajikistan as well as the CSTO Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha participated in the meeting that was presided over by the Tajik Security Council Secretary, Abdurahim Qahhorov. The meeting also discussed functioning of the system of collective response to emergency situations and measures to prevent recruitment of nationals of the CSTO member nations for participation in foreign armed conflicts. The meeting participants also discussed and endorsed the plan of consultations between representatives of the CSTO member nations on foreign policy, security and defense designed for the second half-year of 2015 – the first half-year of 2016.
May 21 – A joint military exercise with a final phase featuring live-fire mission was conducted for units of the Tajik national army and the 201st Russian military base in the Darvoz district of the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO). More than 500 servicemen and about 100 units of military hardware were involved in the exercise. Helicopters Mi-8s and Mi-24s of Russian Air Force as well as unmanned aerial vehicles “Granat,” “Zastava,” and “Forpost” reportedly provided air reconnaissance and support.
May 25-27 – A meeting of chiefs of security bodies and special services from the CIS nations took place in Dushanbe. According to the CIS Executive Committee, the meeting participants discussed the possibility of participation of extremist and neo-Nazi organizations in implementation of technologies of “color revolutions” within the CIS area. Chiefs of security bodies and special services from the CIS nations also discussed joint measures to provide information security.
May 26 – The 38th session of the Coordination Panel of Heads of Parliament Defense and Security Committee from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (SCTO) member nations at the Council of the CSTO Parliament Assembly was held in Dushanbe to discuss the current military and political situation in the Central Asian region;
– President Emomali Rahmon attended an official opening of a mountain training ground that is located in the Marghob area of the Romit Gorge, not far from the Vahdat Township. All necessary conditions for long-term deployment and organization of military mountaineering courses are reportedly created at this training ground.
May 27 – Tajikistan saw sharp currency devaluation. The U.S. dollar (USD) lost 3.78 percent of its value against the Tajik national currency, the somoni (TJS). Specialists from Tajik central bank attribute USD depreciation to measures taken by the bank new management, decrease in demand for USD, and increase in migrant remittance flows;
– Tajik OMON commander Gulmurod Halimov, who has been missing for weeks, reappeared on the Internet, claiming that he joined the Islamic State (IS) militant group in protest at official restrictions on religious observance back home. In a video posted on YouTube, Halimov singled out Tajikistan”s crackdown on Islamic dress and limitations on public prayer as reasons for his radicalization. Halimov, a father of eight, says that Tajik labor migrants “must stop serving infidels” in Russia and join IS in Syria and Iraq in order to establish Shari”a law in other countries, including Tajikistan;
– The Islamic Revival Party (IRP) activist Said Ibrohim Nazar, who is an adviser to IRP leader Muhiddin Kabiri, was fined 60,000 somoni for polygamy. Said Ibrohim Nazar was shown on Tajik national TV channels and he confirmed that he has four wives. Besides, a video posted on social networks and showing intimate details of his relationship with a woman who was not his wife was shown. Said Nazar Ibrohim confirmed authenticity of the video;
– A military court in Dushanbe sentenced soldier of military unit 12019 of the Ministry of Defense, Farrukh Poulodov to 5 ½ years in prison. Farrukh Poulodov was found guilty of hazing, inflicting bodily harm. The Public Association “Office of Civil Freedoms” says Farrukh Poulodov severely beat conscript Bahriddin Nasriddinov on March 6, 2015. Human rights organizations in Tajikistan have criticized the government for not doing enough to stop hazing in the military.
May 28 – Vavilon, TajikTelecom, Megafon and a number of other Internet providers blocked access to Asia-Plus’ website, Radio Liberty’s Tajik- and Russian-language websites, a video-sharing website YouTube, and Russian social networks Vkontakte and Odnoklassniki. The chairman of Tajikistan”s Association of Internet Service Providers (ISPs), Asomuddin Atoyev, supposed that access to the sites was being blocked by some ISPs following an oral order from the state communications service agency. According to him, reports about the Tajik OMON commander who joined Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants in Syria could be behind the order.
