Two residents of the northern Sughd province have been convicted for an attempt to smuggle tsarist-era copper coins out of Tajikistan while the third one is waiting for a trial.
On August 30, a Chinese national was convicted for an attempt to smuggle seven Soviet-era medals and two tsarist-era copper coins issued in 1903, a source at the Sughd transport prosecutor’s office told Asia-Plus in an interview.
According to him, a court in Khujand fined the 48-year-old Lee Tinjung 20,000 somoni.
Besides, the 23-year-old resident of the northern city of Konibodom, Khoushbakht Ahmadov, has been convicted for an attempt to smuggle six tsarist-era copper coins issued in 1738, 1744, 1751, 1753, 1767 and 1878 out of the country. He has been fined 25,000 somoni.
Meanwhile, the 32-year-old resident of the Jabbor-Rasoulov district, D.N., is still waiting for a trial. He was detained at the Khujand airport on September 4. An inspection of passenger of the Khujand-Moscow flight found a Russian one-ruble coin issued in 1796 in his luggage.
Criminal proceedings have reportedly been instituted against D.N. under the provisions of two articles of Tajikistan’s Penal Code: Article 32 – attempted crime, and Article 289 – smuggling.
An investigation into the case of D.N. has already been completed and the case has moved to a court.
Recall, a court in Dushanbe has fined a Russian woman after finding her guilty of an attempt to smuggle a tsarist-era copper coin out of Tajikistan.
The court in Dushanbe’s Shohmansour district on August 21 fined Tatyana Khuzhina 5,000 somoni and ruled that she will be allowed to leave for Russian after the fine is paid.
The lead prosecutor in the case asked the court on August 18 to sentence Khuzhina to six years in prison.
Khuzhina, 41, was detained in late June after customs officers found a Russian two-kopeck coin issued in 1823 in her wallet while she was boarding a flight from Dushanbe to Moscow.
Tajik officials have insisted that Khuzhina illegally tried to take the coin out of the country without declaring it. The court ruled on August 21 that the coin will be kept in a Tajik museum.
Khuzhina, who was born in Tajikistan and has lived in Russia since 2012, says she had the coin for years as a memento of her mother and was carrying it in her wallet when she entered the former Soviet republic from Russia.
Officials from the Russian Embassy in Dushanbe told reporters that the coin is of little value, estimating it to be worth a maximum of U.S$4.00.
