In Vakhdat, civil servants beat an 82-year-old woman

An elderly woman claims that she was beaten by local government and law enforcement officials.

On October 15, a video circulated on social media, in which the author claims that government officials beat an elderly disabled woman. The video became sensational and sparked a wave of public reaction.

Saidigul Gafurova, a resident of the village of Odili in the Simigandj rural community of Vahdat city, told Azda TV that on October 14, 2023, local government officials, accompanied by a police officer, broke into their home and beat her and her 82-year-old mother.

According to Gafurova, her stepson Sodikjoni Sharifbek, born in 2004, is the sole breadwinner in the family.

As Saidigul Gafurova reported, at night, a district police officer, the head of the rural community, and the head of the mahalla broke into their home without an official summons or warrant, detained the young man, and took him away. When Gafurova and her 82-year-old mother expressed their dissatisfaction and protested, they were beaten and threatened that if they complained anywhere, they would be killed.

At the time of publication, the authorities of Tajikistan had not officially commented on this incident or responded to the claims of the victims of violence by officials from several government agencies.

This is not the first case of beating relatives of conscripts in Tajikistan.

Previously, government officials had pressured and abused the parents and relatives of young people who, for various reasons, did not want to serve in the armed forces of Tajikistan.

In particular, earlier this year, media reported dozens of cases where law enforcement officials, military enlistment offices, and local government authorities in various regions of Tajikistan, particularly in the city of Isfara, in the Vanj, Darvoz, and Shahri Nav districts, and in the Abdurakhmoni Jomi district, subjected parents and close relatives of young people unwilling to serve in the army to violence and even physical and moral torture.