The Interior minister claims that the interior ministry knows nothing about the beating of the health minister.
Police have not received any complaints or information about the beating of the Minister of Health and Social Protection Jamoliddin Abdullozoda, the Interior Minister Ramazon Rahimzoda told reporters in Dushanbe on August 4.
“I only know what has spread over the internet, but no applications have been officially filed in police,” the minister said.
Recall, Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service, citing sources close to the government, reported last month that three nephews of President Emomali Rahmon have severely beaten the country’s health minister and other officials following their mother's death from COVID-19.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the sources in the Interior Ministry and the Health Ministry told RFE/RL on July 26 that Health Minister Jamoliddin Abdullozoda, the chief of the presidential medical center, Kholmuhammad Rahimzoda, and several other health officials and physicians were attacked on July 20 right after Rahmon's 64-year-old sister Qurbonbi Rahmonova died from the coronavirus.
According to the sources, the minister and other health officials were "severely injured" in the attacks. The sources also said that Tajik authorities had invited medical experts from Germany, Russia, and Uzbekistan to treat Rahmon's sister.
One of sources told RFE/RL that two hours before her death foreign specialists said that she had got the wrong kind of care.
“This conclusion of foreign specialists caused the rage and indignation of president’s nephews and they attacked the physicians and health officials present. Only the president's eldest son Rustam Emomali managed to calm them down,” the source said.
The sources said a preliminary investigation has been launched into the attacks.
No one from the government, presidency, or other authorities would comment publicly on the allegations.
Abdullozoda was not present at a July 26 press conference in Dushanbe devoted to Washington's move to supply Tajikistan with COVID-19 vaccines.
A day earlier, Tajikistan received 1.5 million doses of the Moderna shot donated by the United States via the international vaccine distribution system known as Covax.
When asked by a reporter about whether the absence could be linked to rumors of the beatings, Deputy Health Minister Shodikhon Jamshed reportedly rejected the question.
