Unofficial sources say a protest rally has been held in Khorog, the capital of the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO), following the killing of a resident of GBAO’s Roshtqala district
Meanwhile, citing the GBAO chief prosecutor’s office, Khovar news agency said on November 25 that the 29-year-old resident of Tavdem village in Roshtqala district, Gulbiddin Ziyobekov, was wounded today morning at around 11:30 am while resisting detention and opening fire at law enforcement officers from Makarov pistol, which he possessed illegally.
The GBAO chief prosecutor’s office was quoted as saying that Ziyobekov is suspected of committing crimes, which are tried under two articles of Tajikistan’s Penal Code: Article 181 (3) – hostage taking committed by an organized group; and Article 189 (3) – inciting regional enmity.
According to Khovar, Gulbiddin Ziyobekov jointly with his confederates on February 1, 2020 allegedly took A. Abirzoda, the aide to the Roshtqala prosecutor, hostage, beat and held him in Anjim and Barjingal villages for eight hours.
Criminal proceedings have reportedly been instituted against Ziyobekov and his confederates but they have ignored warrants of the investigative bodies and have not come to the prosecutor’s office to testify. Therefore, they have been officially wanted by police, Khovar says.
Kovar says that Ziyobekov was wounded, while some sources say he was killed
Thus, an official source told Asia-Plus Thursday afternoon that residents of Shugnan and Roshtqala districts and the city of Khorog have gathered outside the building of the GBAO government to protest against law enforcement authorities killing the resident of Tavdem village Gulbiddin Ziyobekov. They demanded that GBAO governor Alisher Mirzonabot come out to them.
But local officials say that he is not Khorog; according to them, he is currently Murgab district.
GBAO administration has not yet commented on this incident.
A source, aware of the incident that took place on February 1, 2020, says Gulbiddin Ziyobekov and several other residents of Roshtqala district pulled the ears of Abdusalom Abirzoda, the aide to the Roshtqala prosecutor, for trying to forcibly get hold of a local young woman. According to him, there video, on which Abirzoda asks for forgiveness from residents of GBAO.
They say the then GBAO governor Yodgor Fayzov has helped resolve this incident and the criminal case was dropped, but now the GBAO prosecutor’s office decided to institute criminal proceeding again.
