A court in Dushanbe’s Sino district will consider a lawsuit filed against the Prosecutor-General’s Office by the Non-Government Organization (NGO) Independent Center for Human Rights Protection and Abdurahmon Sharipov, lawyer for family of inmate Ismonboy Boboyev, who died in custody on February 20, 2010 following his arrest on February 19, 2010.
The trial will begin on June 13.
Recall, NGO Independent Center for Human Rights Protection and lawyer Abdurahmon Sharipov accuse the Prosecutor-General’s Office of infringing investigative jurisdiction over Boboyev’s case.
The lawyer says investigation into Boboyev’s cases has been lasting for already eight years but there has been little progress in investigating the case of death of Ismonboy Boboyev in custody.
“It appears that officials of public bodies are not interested in carrying out fair and effective investigation into cases regarding tortures. Despite our numerous appeals, officials of public bodies have not carried out any investigative actions,” Sharipov said.
Ismonboy Boboyev was reportedly detained by UBOP (organized crime control department) officers Manouchehr Akbarov and Firdavs Shokirov in Isfara on February 19, 2010 on suspicion of membership in the extremist organization, Islamic Movement of Turkestan. Ismonboy Boboyev died in the building of UBOP’s office for Sughd province in Khujand on February 20, 2010. Ismonboy’s relatives say he died after he was tortured in custody.
The Sughd prosecutor’s office launched the probe into Ismonboy Boboyev’s death on March 25, 2010. The criminal proceedings were instituted against Manouchehr Akbarov and Firdavs Shokirov under the provisions of four articles of Tajikistan’s Penal Code: Article 104 (1) – murder; Article 247 – fraud; Article 250 – extortion; and Article 316 (3) – misuse of powers.
On June 25, 2010, investigation into the case was suspended because of the suspects’ illness and investigation into the case was resumed in October 2012 following repeated complaints lodged by Ismonboy’s father to the Prosecutor-General’s Office. However, investigation into the case was suspended on October 30, 2012 again following a resolution passed by an investigator from the Sughd prosecutor’s office.
Sharipov in January this year submitted an application for resumption of investigation into the case to the Prosecutor-General’s Office.
On February 6, he received reply that the case was remitted for further examination to the Interior Ministry Investigative Directorate.
The lawyer reportedly appealed the decision noting that the Prosecutor-General’s Office infringed investigative jurisdiction over Boboyev’s case and requested to remit the case to the Prosecutor-General’s Office Directorate for Investigation of Especially Grave Crimes.
The Prosecutor-General’s, however, refused the lawyer’s request noting that there are no grounds for remitting the case to to the Prosecutor-General’s Office Directorate for Investigation of Especially Grave Crimes.
Therefore, the lawyer filed a lawsuit against the Prosecutor-General’s Office in the Sino district court.
