A court in Dushanbe’s Ismoili Somoni district will continue considering a lawsuit filed by Saodat Kuliyeva, the mother of Khurshed Bobokalonov, against the Ministry of Interior (MoI) and the Prosecutor-General’s Office.
For more than ten years, the case of Khurshed Bobokalonov, who died due to suspected beatings by the police in Dushanbe, remains rejected, and so far, there is no information on bringing to justice those responsible for his death. Khurshed's mother Saodat Kuliyeva does not stop fighting and searches justice for many years.
Saodat Kuliyeva has filed lawsuit against the MoI and the Prosecutor-General’s Office demanding compensation for non-pecuniary damage due to ineffective investigation into the death of her son Khurshed Bobokalonov and non-implementation of the recommendations of the UN Human Rights Committee.
The court will continue considering the lawsuit on March 29.
The death of 33-year-old Khurshed Bobokalonov, a young, talented, promising oncologist, was as ridiculous as it was tragic.
Some sources say Khurshed on June 27, 2009 was returning from the gym with a sports bag in his hands. On the main avenue of Dushanbe, he went to the side of the road to stop a taxi. The police officers tried to stop him with a shout, but Khurshed did not pay attention to it. The officers came closer and rudely demanded to show the contents of the bag, but Khurshed did not obey.
He was pushed into a patrol car by force, as it was later documented, "for resisting police officers and to carry out an examination for alcohol intoxication.” When he was brought to the police department of Ismoili Somoni district, Khurshed was already dead.
The news of the Khurshed Bobokalonov's death appeared the next day. According to the official statement of the Interior Ministry, Bobokalonov died from "heart insufficiency and the respiratory airways filling with vomit."
The body was reportedly handed over to the mother only after repeated addresses to the relevant authorities. Khurshed's relatives repeatedly claimed in media that during the arrest Khurshed was severely beaten: “His clothes were covered in blood, numerous bruises were visible on his body, his nose was broken, and wounds on the back of his head and chin were bleeding.”
A few days later, on July 6, 2009, the Prosecutor's Office in Dushanbe’s Ismoili Somoni district opened a criminal case under the Article “Death Resulting from Negligent Conduct." The proceedings in this case were suspended several times for various reasons. For example, "in connection with the failure to identify the persons involved in Bobokalonov's death." However, the case was resumed repeatedly, after mother's addresses to the Prosecutor General's Office. Various examinations were carried out. The results of these examinations were different from the original examination. The investigative experiments were held. Nevertheless, the guilt of the police officers in torturing and killing Khurshed Bobokalonov was never proved.
After applying all the mechanisms for protecting human rights within the republic, on February 23, 2015, Saodat Kuliyeva with the assistance of specialists from the Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law filed an individual complaint with the UN Human Rights Committee on the fact of torture and cruel treatment against her son, which led to his death.
On March 10, 2020, the UN Human Rights Committee, after the procedures for considering an individual complaint by Saodat Kuliyeva, reportedly recognized the fact of torture and cruel treatment by police officers in relation to the victim Khurshed Bobokalonov, and addressed the Tajik authorities with this decision for their action.
