A resident of Muminabad was beaten in the police station

A local resident in southern Tajikistan has been hospitalized with bodily injuries. He claims he was beaten at the police station, but local law enforcement denies this.

According to Radio Ozodi, officers from the police department of the Muminabad district summoned a local resident to the station, demanding that he send his son of conscription age to the army.

His fellow villagers reported that the man was severely beaten at the police station. However, the district police department stated that the man “fell.”

The incident occurred on November 4. The resident of Muminabad district, Hikmatullo Najotov, is currently hospitalized. Doctors confirmed that he has bodily injuries, but his condition is stable.

In an interview with Radio Ozodi, Najotov’s relatives also confirmed that he is in the hospital, but did not provide details about the incident. One relative stated that “this incident has reached republican authorities.”

A source in the prosecutor’s office of the Khatlon region reported that Hikmatullo Najotov was indeed summoned to the district police department due to his son.

“Currently, the prosecutor’s office is investigating the incident. They visited the area, spoke with Najotov, and sent him for an examination, which confirmed that he sustained a head injury. He stated in the presence of investigators that he was held at the police department for 14 days. However, police officers denied this and said that Najotov fell. All versions are being considered, including the use of torture,” said the source to Radio Ozodi.

However, the chairwoman of the Muminabad district, Lutfiya Sharifzoda, rejected the information that Najotov was held at the police department for 14 days.

According to her, the police are urging residents of the district to call their sons back from Russia to serve in the army. Hikmatullo’s son also received a summons to the military enlistment office, but he did not appear, and the police summoned his father for explanations.

“The police chief told me that Hikmatullo fell when he went to the toilet and got injured,” said the chairwoman of Muminabad district.

According to Radio Ozodi, a day after this incident, Najotov’s son returned from Russia to Kulyab, was taken to the military enlistment office of the Hamadoni district, and from there sent to the army. It is unclear why he was sent to the army from another district.

Previously, there was widespread discussion in society about the detention and forced conscription of young people into the army, commonly known as “oblava.”

In recent years, authorities have been using new methods to conscript young people, including pressuring parents and forcing residents to call their children back from Russia and send them to serve in the army; otherwise, authorities threaten parents with fines or even imprisonment.

Earlier, a source from the Jaykhun district, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Azda TV that on November 5, the head of the mahalla summoned all residents of the mahalla to the mosque. In the mosque, representatives of the authorities, including the local police officer, employees of the state security committee, military enlistment office staff, the head of the mahalla, and the head of the rural jamoat spoke with the residents. The discussion lasted several hours.

According to our source, the main demand from the authorities was the return of residents’ children from Russia and their conscription into the army; otherwise, the authorities threatened to close the mosque, fine the parents, or even imprison them.

However, as our source reported, the authorities forcibly sent 4 young men of conscription age to the army, and the mosque was also closed on the pretext that two more recruits were still needed.

Another source from the Yovon district reported that similar actions are taking place in other districts. According to him, representatives of all state agencies in the district gathered congregants in the mosque and demanded that they call their children and even relatives who are working in migration in Russia and send them to the army, otherwise the mosque would be closed and the parents fined.

In some districts, the authorities cut off electricity to residents’ homes and even detained parents in police stations to force children to return and serve in the army.