Tajik Ombudsman Zarif Alizoda says that people voluntarily returning from Syria or other countries, where armed conflicts are going on, will not be granted amnesty automatically.
“Those returning from Syria will be granted amnesty only if they did not commit any crimes there. Only investigation will determine whether this person will be brought to justice or not,” Alizoda told reporters in Dushanbe on August 3.
Asked about Tajik children who are currently in Syria with their parents, Alizoda noted that nobody had applied to the Ombudsman’s Office over the first six months of this year with solicitation to assist with returning children to Tajikistan.
Meanwhile, Head of Tajikistan’s Office of Children's Rights Commissioner, Ms. Rajabmoh Habibullozoda, says there are 206 Tajik children and teens living in the Middle East with their parents.
Recall, she noted during presentation of the draft strategy of activities of the Office of Children's Rights Commissioner designed for 2018-2020 on July 10 that five Tajik children have been returned back to Tajikistan from Syria.
“We do not have exact information how many Tajik children have been returned back to Tajikistan from Syria so far. We just have information that five Tajik children have been returned back to Tajikistan from Syria. They had been brought there by their parents,” Ms. Habibullozoda noted.
A statement released by the Interior Ministry on May 9, 2015, in particular, noted that amnesty will be granted to Tajik militants in Syria and Iraq who wish to come home. “The ministry is ready to help them return,” the statement declared.
