Crimes committed during the civil war are being investigated in Tajikistan

In Tajikistan, crimes committed during the civil war years (1992-1997) are increasingly coming to light. One such case, reported on June 26 2024, involves two residents of the Pasiarik village in the Dusti district of the Khatlon region. They are 69-year-old Zainiddin Bahodiev and 57-year-old Abdurakhmon Tagoev. They were sentenced to 15 years in prison for a murder committed over 30 years ago.

In March 1993, both defendants, in collusion with another person – Ortik Faizulloev, who remains at large, killed the director of school No. 11 in the Dusti district, Mirzo Odinaev, his wife, and three minor children. 

Another case was reported on June 11 of this year, when the Supreme Court of Tajikistan reviewed the sentence of Yusuf Salikhov. He was found guilty of the murder of 23 members of one family during the civil war. The previous sentence was revised to a stricter punishment, and Salikhov was sentenced to 15 years instead of 12 years in prison.

Salikhov, a former bodyguard of the commander of the People’s Front Khudja-commander, carried out the attack with a group of armed individuals in 1992, killing 23 members of one family, including a pregnant woman and children. 

After the crime, he fled from justice and was in Russia until he was arrested and extradited to Tajikistan in July 2023.

In July 2023, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Tajikistan reported on the resolution of a long-standing case regarding the disappearance of 8-year-old Katya Dmitrieva, which occurred nearly 30 years ago in the city of Istiklol (Taboshar).

The television report “Paiki Sughd” provided details indicating that the girl’s body was found in the basement of a house on Kamoli Khujandi Street, 19 (formerly Gagarin Street). Despite the efforts of her parents and the public, the fate of Katya, who disappeared from her yard on May 21, 1994, remained a mystery until 2023. After a lengthy investigation conducted jointly by the police of the Sughd region and officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, it was established that the girl was first raped and then killed.

The perpetrator of this horrific crime turned out to be 62-year-old Shavkat Shayakhmedov, a resident of the Zalegoshchensky district of the Oryol region of the Russian Federation. In late December 2022, he was arrested in the Oryol region on suspicion of a series of serious crimes, including rapes and murders.

The investigation revealed that Shayakhmedov lived in Taboshar, Leninabad region of Tajikistan, in 1994, where he committed the crime against Katya Dmitrieva. After the rape, he hid the body in a bag and buried it in the basement of his mother-in-law’s house on Gagarin Street.

As part of the active investigation into crimes committed during the civil war of the 1990s, in 2022, former field commander of the People’s Front Khudja Karimov, known as “Khudja-commander” was charged with new offenses.

Earlier, in March 2021, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison on several counts of the Criminal Code of Tajikistan, including participation in banditry, murder, and hostage-taking. These crimes were committed during the civil war in Tajikistan when he held a significant command position in the People’s Front.

A new criminal case was initiated after more than 15 people appealed to the General Prosecutor’s Office and accused Khudja Karimov of hostage-taking, murder, and banditry. As a result of the court proceedings, he was sentenced to 21 years in prison.

Khudja Karimov was arrested in Dubai in August 2019 and extradited to Tajikistan in February 2020 after numerous accusations, including involvement in the murders of Tajik parliament members and organizing human trafficking.

In February 2021, it was reported in Tajikistan that a suspect in the murder of a 59-year-old woman in the city of Vahdat, committed in December 1995, was detained. During the civil confrontation, the suspect was part of the illegal armed group Eshoni Nozim. It was alleged that the suspect, armed with an AK-47, shot the woman in her home.

A criminal case was opened against him under Article 104, Part 2 of the Criminal Code. He faced life imprisonment with confiscation of property. It was not reported how the case ended or whether the suspect was convicted.

In December 2021, another crime committed in the 90s was reported. At that time, the Supreme Court of Tajikistan sentenced two residents of the city of Tursunzade, Ismoil Samiev and Ramazon Muradov, to 15 years in prison.

It was noted that from 1996 to 1998, they were members of the organized group of Ramazon Toshev. As part of this group, Samiev and Muradov committed particularly serious crimes, including banditry, robbery, and intentional murder, using weapons.

The General Prosecutor’s Office stated at that time that on August 14, 1997, the convicted individuals, along with other group members, broke into the home of the Ashurov family in the village of Kirova. Threatening the mother of the family, they demanded money from the two Ashurov brothers, Chuponkula and Validjon. As a result, they took $1,200 and 700,000 Russian rubles, brutally killed both brothers, and fled the scene.