Two border officers detained over the fatal traffic accident in Khorog remain under the custody. Criminal proceedings have been instituted against them under the provisions of Article 212 (3) of Tajikistan’s Penal Code – violation of traffic rules entailing negligent death of two or more persons, an official source at the Khorog military prosecutor’s office told Asia-Plus today morning.
Recall, two persons were killed and two others were seriously injured on December 1 as a vehicle belonging to the Tajik Border Troops crashed in into a fixed-route tax (minivan) in Khorog, the capital of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO). Among those killed was a pregnant woman, therefore, one could say that the accident left three dead.
The accident took place in the area near the Khorog hydroelectric power plant (HPP). The border officer reportedly lost control of his Toyota TAV-4 and it crashed into the fixed-route tax. As a result of the collision, two women, one of them was pregnant, died after falling in to the hydropower plant’s, canal. Two other persons, the diver and one of passengers, sustained serious injuries and were hospitalized.
“Both officers were arrested on the same day and they remain under the custody,” the source said.
He further added that it could not be ruled out that new criminal charges would be filed against those officers.
Under Article 212 (3) they could face up to ten years in prison.
The news of the accident has stirred social networks. Many people wrote on Facebook in early December that the border guards (the vehicle belongs to the Border Troops of the State Committee for National Security (SCNS) – number plate 009KM) were in a state of drunkenness and they fled the accident scene.
Recall, at least 100 people, mainly young people, gathered in Khorog on November 6 for protest rally demanding an investigation into an incident in which a police officer shot and wounded three local men. Protesters also demanded that the authorities remove police checkpoints that were set up in the city in September. GBAO governor Yodgor Fayzov met with the protesters and promised that a special commission would thoroughly investigate the incident.
The incident took place in Khorog’s Tirchid neighborhood late on November 4. A police officer reportedly fired a traumatic pistol at a group of young men, wounding three men.
