April 1
– The trial of eleven men recaptured after a high-profile jailbreak in Tajikistan last year has started at the Supreme Court in Dushanbe;
– Spring conscription campaign was launched in Tajikistan;
– Former United Tajik Opposition (UTO) filed commander Shoh Iskandarov was appointed deputy chief of the Interior Ministry’s regional office for the Rasht Valley. The appointment of Iskandarov is reportedly in recognition of his role in defusing the crisis there last fall when Islamic militants fought against government forces.
April 2
– On Tajik national was killed and one other was detained on the Kyrgyz-Tajik border carrying one kilogram of drugs;
– A soldier of one of border units deployed in Hamadoni district, Khatlon province was shot by a colleague who then turned the gun on himself after a row. The shooting in the border unit reportedly involved personal issues.
April 4
– President Emomali Rahmon received a group of visiting OSCE ambassadors. The sides considered issues related to cooperation in combating terrorism, extremism and drug trafficking as well as strengthening border with Afghanistan and carrying out mine clearance operations in border areas;
– The Supreme Court military board sentenced four prison officers to between two and 8½ years in prison. The sentenced followed their conviction on charges of negligence that led to a mass jailbreak in Dushanbe in August 2010.
April 5
– Prince Amyn Aga Khan, younger brother of His Highness the Aga Khan—founder and Chairman of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), visited Dushanbe. During his one-day visit, Prince Amyn reviewed progress of AKDN projects in the country, including the Dushanbe Serena Hotel.
April 5-6
– Ms. Rachel Kyte, Vice President, Business Advisory Services at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), visited Tajikistan. During her visit, Ms. Kyte met with Prime Minister Oqil Oqilov, Economic Team of the Government of Tajikistan and representatives of United Kingdom’s Department for International Development, European Commission and State Secretariat for Economic Affairs. During these meetings Ms. Kyte praised the strong partnership between IFC, Tajik government and donor community and discussed opportunities to further expand cooperation
April 6
– Dozens of Tajik and Kyrgyz citizens temporarily blocked the cross-border Osh-Isfara highway after an incident at a Kyrgyz border station. According to Isfara authorities, Kyrgyz border guards stopped a truck and demanded a bribe from the Tajik driver. When he refused to pay, the border guards tried to impound his truckload of goods. The truck driver reportedly used his mobile phone to tell his friends in Tajikistan what had happened, and that Tajiks on the Tajik side of the border then intercepted three Kyrgyz trucks. Talks between authorities of Isfara and Batken districts alleviated the tension. The sides agreed to establish consultative councils of elders, women, and young people to avert further altercations.
April 8
– Tajik Ministry of Interior and the OSCE Office in Tajikistan signed a cooperation agreement;
– Resident of Sughd’s Zafarobod district has been shot to death while trying to illegally cross the Uzbek-Tajik border.
April 10
– Tajik border guard was killed on the Tajik-Afghan border in Shouroobod district, Khatlon province. The incident took place in the area patrolled by the Khirmanjo frontier post. Private soldier Mahmadumar Kholov, 20, was reportedly attacked from contiguous territory and killed by two shots;
– Kazakh diplomat Amir Zhanaev was attacked in Dushanbe while walking with his family in the city center. An investigation has been launched into the beating of a Kazakh diplomat.
April 11-12
– U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Robert O. Blake, Jr. heading the U.S. government-interagency delegation to the second U.S. – Tajikistan Annual Bilateral Consultations (ABC) visited Tajikistan. The delegation included the Department of State”s Directors for the Offices of Central Asian Affairs and International Religious Freedom, the Director for Central Asia in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and the Regional Mission Director for the U.S. Agency for International Development. The second ABC meeting took place on April 11. The sides discussed issues related to bilateral economic cooperation between Tajikistan and the United States, general aid, agricultural reforms, providing favorable investment climate, energy problems and human rights issues, including freedom of speech and religion in Tajikistan. On April 12, President Rahmon received Mr. Blake. The sides reportedly discussed cooperation between the United States and Tajikistan in combating drug trafficking and in strengthening Tajikistan’s border security. While in Tajikistan, Assistant Secretary Blake also met with civil society, business, and political leaders and visited Embassy funded development projects.
April 12
– A massive fire destroyed much of Khujand University”s Arts Faculty and the headquarters of a traditional music ensemble. According to Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service, known Tajik singer Jurabek Murodov, who heads the traditional Nuri Khujand music ensemble, said he had a collection of objects d”art, musical instruments, and memorabilia of Tajik and other Central Asian singers dating back 1,000 years. He said that because of the work of the firefighters, some of the most valuable items were saved from the flames;
– Tajik national Homidjon Ochilboyev, a doctor at a hospital in Yemen’s Shabwa province, who was abducted by unknown persons on February 28, was released;
– An arms cache containing three ORO-57 (rocket pods) with 42 S-5 aircraft rockets, 700 bullets of 7.62 mm caliber and 48 machinegun bullets was discovered in children’s camp in Vahdat district.
April 13
– The chiefs of general staffs of armed forces of the CIS nations met in Dushanbe. Presided over by the chief of Russia”s General Staff, Army General Nikolai Makarov, the meeting focused on problems of ensuring security and addressing threats, providing stable and dynamic development of the CIS. The meeting participants also considered topical issues related to creation and improvement of unified defense systems and outlined priorities of military cooperation within the CIS area for the period until 2015.
April 14
– Tajikstan”s lower chamber (Majlisi Namoyandagon) of parliament has voted to improve prison conditions for convicts serving life sentences. Under the new legislation, those serving life sentences will be allowed the unrestricted purchase of goods from the prison store and prisoners serving life sentences whose conduct is “good” will be kept no more than two in a cell.
April 14-16
– Tajik security forces carried out a search operation for militant leader Abdullo Rahimov (Mullo Abdullo), who was behind the September attack on Tajik army forces in Kamarob Gorge in the eastern Rasht district in which at least 28 servicemen died. Mullo Abdullo was reportedly killed on April 15 along with 15 militants in the village of Samsoliq, Nourobod district, about 135 kilometers east of Dushanbe.
April15
– Electricity rationing was ended in Dushanbe.
April 17
– Tajik authorities lifted all restrictions on electricity countrywide and all regions now have power 24 hours a day.
April 18
– Tajik national Fakhriddin Kokulov, 31, who escaped from the pretrial detention facility run by the State Committee for national Security (SCNS) in Dushanbe last August, was killed in a gun battle with Tajik security forces in the Rasht Valley.
April 18-20
– The CIS Executive Secretary Sergey Lebedev was on a working visit to Tajikistan. During the visit, Sergey Lebedev will meet with high-ranking Tajik officials to discuss issues related to Tajikistan’s rotating CIS chairmanship.
April 20
– President Emomali Rahmon addressed a joint meeting of both chambers of the parliament;
– Six persons were wounded in Roudaki district after an antitank shell exploded because of careless treatment, according to the Ministry of Interior (MoI). The accident took place at local market. A 38-year-old entrepreneur Umar Saidov found an exploded antitank shell at the Lohour training grounds and brought it to the market to show to his friends. The explosion occurred after Saidov threw the shell to one of his friends just for fun but the last failed to catch it.
April 20-24
– A delegation of French senators was in Tajikistan to discuss cooperation issues with high-ranking Tajik state officials.
April 22
– Equipment from the offices of the Dushanbe independent weekly, Paikon, was confiscated in line with a court-imposed fine of 300,000 somonis ($67,153) for libeling state consumer-protection agency Tojikstandart.
April 25
– President Rahmon received visiting Minister of Public Security of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Meng Jianzhu. Bilateral cooperation between the two countries in combating international terrorism, extremism and trafficking in weapons and narcotics was a major topic of the talks.
April 26
– A court in Sughd province sentenced eleven activists of the banned religious extremist Hizb ut-Tahrir group, including two citizens of Uzbekistan, to jail terms of three to twenty year.
April 27
– According to the Ministry of Interior, 18 RGD-5 hand grenades, five F-1 hand grenades as well as 55 bullets of 14.5 mm caliber and 1,292 bullets of other calibers having become unfit for use were found in a refuse bin near the Sari Osiyo cemetery in Dushanbe.
April 28
– Homeless family from Fayzobod district was put on probation for ‘hooliganism.’ A court in Fayzobod district put Atovullo Raqibov, his wife Gulru Ibodova, and his two sisters, Mohikalon Raqibova and Saida Raqibova, on one year’s probation for smashing the window of a bulldozer that was used by local authorities in September to demolish their house.
April 28-29
– international conference entitled “Central Asian Stakes in Afghanistan’s Stabilization Process” was held in Dushanbe.
April 29
– The Drug Control Agency (DCA) under the President of Tajikistan and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) signed signing a Memorandum of Cooperation between the two counter narcotics law enforcement agencies. The two agencies have worked together cooperatively to combat the flow of drugs into Tajikistan and to other regional and international markets since 2007.
