Tajik authorities say they have yet to launch an official search for opposition leader Mahmurod Odinayev, disputing a claim by relatives that a request to do so has been filed, according to Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service.
Interior Ministry spokesman Nusratullo Mahmoudzoda said on December 2 that Odinayev, deputy chairman of the opposition Social-Democratic Party, has not been officially placed on the missing persons list because police did not receive a request from his relatives.
Relatives of Odinayev, who hasn't been seen since November 20, told RFE/RL that he went missing days after he placed a post on Facebook asking Dushanbe Mayor Rustam Emomali to allow him and his party's activists to stage a protest over food price hikes.
According to the relatives, they officially turned to police several times, asking law enforcement officers to find the missing politician. Odinayev's relatives also said police questioned them regarding the opposition figure's mysterious disappearance.
The Interior Ministry said in late November that Odinayev’s son, Shaikhmuslihiddin Rizoyev, was charged with hooliganism over his alleged involvement in a brawl.
Earlier in October, Odinayev said that unknown attackers had severely beaten his son, adding that the assault was a part of a pressure campaign being imposed on him for his political activities.
