19 residents of Rushan “voluntarily” surrendered to the authorities

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Tajikistan accuses 19 residents of the Rushan district of “terrorism.” It is reported that they were led by two former members of the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT).

Photo: Internet

Today, May 23, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Tajikistan published a list of “members of an organized criminal-extremist-terrorist group who participated in the protests from May 15 to 18, 2022, in the Rushan district, who voluntarily surrendered to the authorities,” most of whom were members of the “criminal group led by Kholbasha Kholbash.”

In the case of some of these individuals, it is noted that they have been “active participants in illegal protests in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region since 2012.”

More than 70% of the 19 people accused by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of belonging to the “organized criminal-extremist-terrorist group” have not been previously convicted or held criminally liable.

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, two of those who surrendered to the authorities were former members of the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT), and one was a leader of the Islamic Renaissance Party in the Rushan district.

Since May 16, the situation in Khorog and the Rushan district of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region has remained tense. Security forces have brutally killed more than 30 residents in Khorog and the Rushan district and detained 124 people.