Tajikistan’s Prosecutor General’s Office has announced that it has detained four men in connection with a series of murders that have terrified the town of Konibodom, in the country’s northern Sughd region.
The office’s statement says that operational and investigative measures led to the arrest of four Tajik citizens. The detainees are:
- Solehjon Khudojberdiev, born in 1998, a resident of Firuzoba Jamoat, Gulbog village;
- Akhajon Tukhtaev, born in 1997, also from Firuzoba Jamoat, Gulbog village;
- Bakhtiyor Ravshanov, born in 1988, a resident of Lohuti Jamoat, Sanchidzor village;
- Manuchehr Odilov, born in 1996, in M. Abdulloyev street, Khamroboyev Jamoat.
All four are residents of Konibodom.
The Prosecutor General’s Office said that the investigation is being conducted under the direct supervision of the country’s top leadership.
Earlier this year, The Times of Central Asia reported that Konibodom residents had endured a wave of night murders in the spring. Between late March and late May, 13 people — ethnic Tajiks, and Kyrgyz from the region near the Kyrgyz border — were killed. The victims, ranging from children to the elderly, were murdered in different parts of the town.
While authorities initially claimed the suspects had been caught and the killings had stopped, violence returned in December. On December 9, six more people were murdered, followed by four more found dead in their homes on December 16.
