DUSHANBE, April 21, 2011, Asia-Plus — Resident of Fazyobod district Atovullo Raqibov, who faces charge of hooliganism after failed attempts to defend his house, is currently being held at the pretrial detention facility in Dushanbe.
Raqibov’s relatives told Asia-Plus that he was taken into custody on April 13 for failure to appear before court. “On April 14, they transferred him to the pretrial detention facility in Dushanbe, but nobody informed us of this,” said they, “We knew about that from known human rights activist, Ms. Oynihol Bobonazarova.”
According to them, relatives are not yet allowed to see him and at present only lawyer may meet with him, but Atovullo could not hire lawyer due to lack of funds. Atovullo Raqibov refused public attorney’s services.
The relatives lamented that although there are many human rights organizations in the country, no one of them has offered legal assistance or hired skilled lawyer for Atovullo Raqibov.
We will recall that Atovullo Raqibov told Asia-Plus by phone on April 13 that his wife was in hospital in Dushanbe and therefore, he could not leave her alone. According to him, he submitted a document certifying that his wife is hospitalized to the court.
The trial of Atovullo Raqibov began in a court of Fayzobod district on March 16. His wife and two his sisters are also in the dock. Atovullo Raqibov faces charges of hooliganism. Representative of the Prosecutor-General’s Office said that on September 14, 2010, Atovullo Raqibov prevented activities of the commission that was set up for full demolition of his house.
The Fayzobod police department instituted the case following an application by an excavator operator who said that Raqibov allegedly broke the excavator’s glass as a protest against demolition of his house.
The Raqibov family was left practically homeless as their house was demolished in July 2009 and only one structure consisting of one room remained, in which Atovullo and his family lived.
On January 17, 2011, Atovullo Raqibov and his family gathered outside the Ombudsman’s office in Dushanbe. He told Asia-Plus on the same day that the house was demolished, though the family had all necessary documents, including the certificate of land use right. According to him, they went through all instances but failed to find solution to the problem. “At the end of 2010, we applied to Tajik Ombudsman Zarif Alizoda and he promised to examine the issue,” said Raqibov, “More than a month has passed since that time, but we have not yet received any reply. That is why my wife, I and our five children have decided to stand outside the Ombudsman’s office until our problem is solved.”
Atovullo Raqibov and his family spent an overnight in Ombudsman’s Office in Dushanbe but failed to meet with the ombudsman. On January 18, at around 8:00 am, officers from the police station in Dushanbe’s Ismoili Somoni district came. They promised to help and took them to the police station. Raqibov and his family spent there a couple of hours and police officers then took them to the Fayzobod police station.
It is to be noted that the criminal case instituted against Raqibov in September 2010 was then suspended and it was resumed only in January this year when Atovullo Raqibov began haunting officials’ thresholds in Dushanbe in search of truth and justice.
