Former Chairman of the Supreme Council of Tajikistan Akbarsho Iskandarov has been detained in Dushanbe, sources from Radio Ozodi report. Official structures and Iskandarov’s relatives are refraining from comments. Akbarsho Iskandarov is 73 years old. He took the position of Chairman of the Supreme Council of Tajikistan during the wave of conflicts in the early […]
Former Chairman of the Supreme Council of Tajikistan Akbarsho Iskandarov has been detained in Dushanbe, sources from Radio Ozodi report.
Official structures and Iskandarov’s relatives are refraining from comments.
Akbarsho Iskandarov is 73 years old. He took the position of Chairman of the Supreme Council of Tajikistan during the wave of conflicts in the early 1990s and even temporarily served as the acting president of Tajikistan.
Two sources from Radio Ozodi reported on June 21 that employees of the General Prosecutor’s Office of Tajikistan “summoned Akbarsho Iskandarov for questioning on June 13 and 14, and then did not release him.” The reasons for his questioning and the grounds for his detention are unknown.
“Investigators from the General Prosecutor’s Office questioned about 50 people during these days and released them under a travel ban, but Akbarsho Iskandarov was not released,” noted the source.
Akbarsho Iskandarov’s detention follows that of deputy Saidjafar Usmonzoda and former Minister of Foreign Affairs Hamrokhon Zarifi. It is unclear whether these detentions are related.
On June 14, the General Prosecutor of Tajikistan Yusuf Rahmon addressed the deputies at a meeting of the lower house of parliament with a proposal to strip Usmonzoda of parliamentary immunity. All deputies present at the meeting unanimously approved the prosecutor’s request and consented to Usmonzoda’s arrest.
Yusuf Rahmon stated in parliament that the General Prosecutor’s Office accuses Usmonzoda and “others” of attempting to seize state power in Tajikistan.
There is no official information on who these “others” are. Sources from Radio Ozodi reported that former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Tajikistan Hamrokhon Zarifi was also detained on June 12.
In recent years, Akbarsho Iskandarov worked at the Institute of Philosophy, Political Science, and Law of the Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan. Prior to that, he served for many years as the extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador of Tajikistan to Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia.