Minor convicted of murdering a taxi driver

A court in the Khatlon region has issued a verdict in the case of a minor accused of murdering 38-year-old taxi driver Lutfullo Safarov from the Yavan district. The teenager was found guilty and sentenced to 12 years in prison.

According to Asia-Plus, the verdict was delivered on July 23. The name of the convicted individual is not published due to his minority.

The court found the minor guilty under part 2 of article 104 (murder committed with particular cruelty), as well as under part 4 of article 249 (robbery committed with the intent to seize property in especially large amounts) of the Criminal Code of Tajikistan.

It is still unknown whether the relatives of the convicted individual or his lawyer intend to appeal the verdict. Their comments on this matter are not available. The relatives of Lutfullo Safarov also refrained from commenting on the verdict.

It should be noted that Lutfullo Safarov worked for the taxi company “3333” in the Yavan district and had four young children. The taxi driver’s body was discovered on April 4 of this year in one of the agricultural fields.

The victim’s father reported that his son left for work after lunch on April 3 and did not return home. Around 5:30 PM, two individuals got into Lutfullo’s car with the intent to kill him and take the vehicle. They asked to be taken to the village of Dastgyrak. On the way, they attacked the driver and inflicted nine stab wounds to various parts of his body, including three stabs to the back of his neck. After that, the assailants took the car and fled the scene, but did not touch the money or documents.

The father of the deceased, citing law enforcement agencies, reported that a student from the 11th grade of the Dastgyrak school was detained on suspicion of murdering the taxi driver. The police found the vehicle at the student’s home. The teenager confessed to killing the taxi driver, but the father was convinced that the murder was committed by at least 2-3 people.

Despite the verdict, the court or the investigation did not publish details of the case.