Document - Tajikistan / Uzbekistan: Further information on "disappearance"

EXTERNALAI Index: EUR 04/06/97

9 April 1997

Further information on UA 71/97 (EUR 60/07/97, 18 March 1997) - "Disappearance"

TAJIKISTAN / UZBEKISTAN

Rizoali OJIYEV (Ризоали ОДЖИЕВ in cyrillic), aged 34

Gadoali OJIYEV (Гадоали ОДЖИЕВ), aged 30

Gadoali Ojiyev "reappeared" on 4 April 1997. He had reportedly been held in the custody of law enforcement officials in Uzbekistan, not in Tajikistan. According to information received by Amnesty International, he had been arrested ostensibly on suspicion of involvement in a criminal incident on 18 February, when an Uzbekistani customs post on the Tajikistan-Uzbekistan border had been attacked by armed men crossing from Tajikistan (Kanibadam, the town where Gadoali Ojiyev had been arrested, is close to the location where this incident took place). However, during his detention he was repeatedly questioned not about that incident, but about the activities of his brother Rizoali. He was driven back to Khujand, Tajikistan, on 4 April and released reportedly without charge.

There is still no news about Rizoali Ojiyev. Amnesty International has received further information which appears to confirm the circumstances of his "disappearance". The identity of the people who took him away in a car shortly after he had been returned home by law enforcement officials following questioning remains unknown. However, the fact that these people appear to have been waiting for him to be returned home raises the question of whether they had prior knowledge of what Rizoali Ojiyev’s movements would be that day, and whether they were acting on information which came from the law enforcement officials. Information that Gadoali Ojiyev was questioned about his brother while detained in Uzbekistan also raises questions about the possible involvement of Uzbekistani authorities in Rizoali Ojiyev’s "disappearance".

FURTHER RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send telegrams/express/airmail letters in Russian, English or in your own language:

1. Appeals to authorities in Tajikistan:

- calling on them to clarify the whereabouts of Rizoali Ojiyev, and, if he is in detention, to release him immediately if he is not to be charged with a recognizably criminal offence;

- calling for a thorough examination of whether law enforcement officials involved in the brief detention of Rizoali Ojiyev on 28 February have any connection to his subsequent "disappearance".

1) The Procurator General of Tajikistan, Salomiddin Sharopov

Respublika Tajikistan

734022 g. Dushanbe

prospekt A. Sino, 126

Prokuratura Respubliki Tajikistan

Generalnomu prokuroru SHAROPOVU S.

TAJIKISTAN

Telegrams: Generalnomu prokuroru Sharopovu, Dushanbe, Tajikistan

Salutation: Dear Procurator General

2) The Minister of Internal Affairs, Khumdin Khasanovich Sharifov

Respublika Tajikistan

g. Dushanbe

ul. Dzherzhinskogo, 29

Ministerstvo vnutrennikh del

Respubliki Tajikistan

Ministru SHARIFOVU Kh.Kh.

TAJIKISTAN

Telegrams: Ministru vnutrennikh del Sharifovu, Dushanbe, Tajikistan

Salutation: Dear Minister

3) The Minister of Security, Major-General Saydamir Zukhurov

Respublika Tajikistan

g. Dushanbe

Ministerstvo bezopasnosti

Respubliki Tajikistan

Ministru ZUKHUROVU S.

TAJIKISTAN

Telegrams: Ministru bezopasnosti Zukhurovu, Dushanbe, Tajikistan

Salutation: Dear Minister

COPIES TO:

The Foreign Minister of Tajikistan, Talbak Nazarovich Nazarov

Respublika Tajikistan

734051 g. Dushanbe

Ministerstvo inostrannykh del

Ministru NAZAROVU T.

Fax: +7 3772-23 29 64; +7 3772-21 02 59

and to diplomatic representatives of Tajikistan accredited to your country.

2. APPEALS To authorities in Uzbekistan:

- calling on them to disclose whether they have any knowledge of the whereabouts of Rizoali Ojiyev, a citizen of Tajikistan, and, if he is in detention in Uzbekistan, to release him immediately if he is not to be charged with a recognizably criminal offence.

1) The Procurator General of Uzbekistan, Buritosh Mustafoyev

Respublika Uzbekistan

700000 Tashkent

ul.Gogolya, 66

Prokuratura Respubliki Uzbekistan

Generalnomu prokuroru MUSTAFOYEVU B.

Telegrams: Generalnomu prokuroru Mustafoyevu, 700000 Tashkent, Uzbekistan

Salutation: Dear Procurator General

COPIES TO:

The Foreign Minister of Uzbekistan, Abdulaziz Komilov

Respublika Uzbekistan

700029 Tashkent