Media reports say Akbarsho Iskandarov, the former chairman of Tajikistan’s parliament, which was known as the Shuroi Oli (Supreme Council) until the early 1990s, has been summoned to the Prosecutor-General’s Office and has been detained after the questioning on unspecified charges. However, the country’s authorities neither confirm nor deny this report and don't provide any information at all.
Citing its several sources, Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service, known locally as Radio Ozodi, reported on June 21 that Akbarsho Iskandarov was summoned to the Prosecutor-General's Office for questioning on June 13 and 14 and has been held in custody since the second visit.
The sources reportedly added that about 50 people in total were summoned to the Prosecutor-General's Office at the time, all of whom were released but ordered not to leave Dushanbe.
Radio Ozodi sent an official query to the Prosecutor-General's Office asking for comments regarding the case but did not receive a response.
Neither Tajik officials nor Iskandarov's relatives would comment on the situation, according to Radio Ozodi.
The 73-year-old veteran politician briefly served as the acting president of Tajikistan in the wake of uprisings in the early 1990s that led to a devastating five-year civil war that started in 1992.
To-date, Iskandarov has worked at the Tajik Science Academy's Institute of Philosophy, Political Sciences, and Law as the head of department.
In the past, he served as Tajikistan's ambassador to Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and Turkmenistan.
“Akbarsho Iskandarov has not shown up at work – at the Institute of Philosophy, Political Sciences, and Law — for almost a week,” an employee of the Institute told Asia-Plus yesterday on the basis of anonymity.
Recall, former Foreign Minister Hamrokhon Zarifi was detained on June 12 on suspicion of financial crimes related to the construction of the Foreign Ministry's new building.
Zarifi served as foreign minister from 2006 to 2013. From 2015 until his retirement in 2018, Zarifi served as Tajikistan's ambassador to Japan.
Last week, investigators also arrested lawmaker Saidjafar Usmonzoda on a charge of “usurping power.”
On June 14, Tajik Prosecutor-General Yusuf Rahmon publicly said that "Usmonzoda and other individuals" are suspected of attempted power seizure. Rahmon did not specify who the "others" were.
No further explanation of the charge was given, and it remains unclear if the arrests are linked.
Asia-Plus news agency’s attempts to get an official comment from the Prosecutor-General’s Office were unsuccessful. Representatives of the Prosecutor-General’s Office neither confirmed nor denied the report on detention of Akbarsho Iskandarov.
