Authorities intensified pressure on the relatives of Khoji Khalim

The law enforcement and national security agencies are pressuring the relatives of the former Deputy Minister of Defense eight years after his death.

Photo: Internet

Nizomuddin Nazarov, the younger brother of the former Deputy Minister of Defense of Tajikistan Abduhalim Nazarzoda, living in exile, called on the UN Human Rights Committee and international organizations to rescue his family from Tajikistan on his Facebook page.

“Another pressure, harassment, and threats against my family and children from the security and law enforcement agencies of Tajikistan,” Nizomuddin Nazarov complained.

The brother of Khoji Khalim, living abroad, believes that law enforcement agencies are taking revenge on his relatives because they were unable to kill him, as they did with his four brothers.

“To the attention of the head of the UN Human Rights Committee, Ms. Michelle Bachelet, and all other international organizations, I ask for help to free my family from the 8-year captivity of the regime governing Tajikistan,” Nizomuddin Nazarov writes.

The aim of increasing pressure on the opposition and their relatives in Tajikistan is, on one hand, to intimidate them, and on the other hand, to conceal the serious and inhumane crimes committed by Tajik law enforcement agencies, the exposure of which they want to prevent for at least some time. In this case, law enforcement agencies intend to hide their crimes.

In September 2015, fierce clashes occurred between the military and other law enforcement agencies in the city of Dushanbe, and then in the city of Vahdat. As a result, the former Deputy Minister of Defense Abduhalim Nazarzoda and his associates were killed.

In the first two weeks, hundreds of people were arrested by Tajik law enforcement agencies, and dozens of others were killed under various pretexts. In the first days, three brothers of Abduhalim Nazarzoda were brutally killed, as well as several of his relatives and friends.

The authorities of Tajikistan, led by Emomali Rahmon, accused the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan of involvement in this rebellion, and dozens of party leaders were detained. The trials against them were held behind closed doors, and all were sentenced to long prison terms. The leadership of the IRPT rejected these accusations from the Tajik authorities. They see this as a pretext for expelling this political party from the political arena of the country.