Commander of the “Darvoz” frontier post deployed near the Vishkharv village in the Darvoz district of the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) has been temporarily dismissed over the summer incident, an official source at the State Committee for National Security (SCNS) told Asia-Plus in an interview.
The incident took place on August 25 this year. “A soldier of fixed-period service took the warrant officer hostage,” the source said, noting that investigation into the incident is under way.
According to him, the Khorog military prosecutor’s office is investigating the incident and it classified the case as “top secret.”
“If the investigation establishes that the frontier post commander and three other officers of this frontier post violated law, they will be fired and criminal proceedings will be instituted against them,” the source said.
The 20-year-old soldier Safarbek Khonov from the Jamoliddini-Bakhi district of the Khatlon province on August 25 took the warrant officer of the mentioned frontier post hostage. Investigators say the motives Khonov’s actions are still unknown.
“Negotiations with Khonov were lasting for almost three hours, but he did not want to release the warrant officer and surrender. Moreover, he opened fire and they were forced to use deadly force,” the source said, noting that the hostage was wounded in the neck and taken to a hospital in Khorog.
Meanwhile, Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service, locally known as Ozodi, says Khonov’s relatives do not believe the official story of the incident.
Idibek Khonov, the father of the killed soldier, considers that his son was forced to act in that way. According to him, traces of severe beating were found on his son’s body. “I have applied for legal aid to the Office of Civil Freedoms. I also want to take legal action,” Idibek Khonov told Ozodi yesterday.
