Mamadbokir Mamadbokirov, whom the authorities called the leader of organized crime in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO) of Tajikistan, and local youth – their idol and hero opposing the central authorities, was killed on May 22 in Khorog (the administrative center of the autonomy).
“At 17:30 in Khorogi bolo mahalla of the city of Khorog, as a result of internal clashes between criminal groups, the leader of the organized criminal group of Barkhorug mahalla Mamadbokirov Mamadbokir Karamalishoevich was killed,” the Department of Internal Affairs for the region reported 50 minutes after the death of the informal leader. Moreover, once again the law enforcement agencies neglect the presumption of innocence and in this case, without trial or investigation, they called Mamadbokirov ‘the leader of a criminal group’.
According to another version that circulates among local residents, Mamadbokirov was killed by a sniper with an aimed shot to the head.
On May 17, the Ministry of Internal Affairs accused Mamadbokirov, along with the deputy chairman of the banned National Alliance Alim Sherzamonov and civil activist Ulfathonim Mamadshoeva, of organizing an illegal rally in Khorog on May 16.
The official authorities considered Mamadbokir Mamadbokirov a criminal authority, and reminded that in October 2018, 7 informal leaders of GBAO signed warning protocols and committed themselves to refrain from illegal actions against the security of the state and society.
According to a source in the law enforcement agencies, on January 29, Mamadbokir Mamadbokirov (according to the authorities) burst into an office on the fourth floor of the Education Department building, which was used by the head of this Department, Lutfullo Navruzov, as a living space. He insulted Navruzov on the basis of localism, and also beat him and ordered him to leave the city of Khorog.
According to Navruzov, Mamadbokirov insulted him before, when he was just appointed to the position of head of the Regional Department of Public Education. However, then Navruzov didn’t write a statement against him, considering that the incident was over. Mamadbokirov himself, answering journalists’ questions, said that he hadn’t beaten anyone, but only had a ‘fatherly conversation’.
The Regional Prosecutor’s Office opened a criminal case against Mamadbokirov under four articles of the country’s Criminal Code: the use of violence against a representative of power, insulting a representative of power, encroachment on the inviolability of a house and inciting national, racial and local hatred. They called him ‘for a conversation’, but he never showed up to the law enforcement authorities.
On February 4, Mamadbokirov was demanded to voluntarily appear before the Prosecutor’s Office and surrender to justice. In response, Mamadbokirov circulated his statement, in which he said that he had been fighting against lawlessness, injustice, corruption, abuse of office and power and violation of the rights and freedoms of citizens, freedom of speech, freedom of the press for 30 years. And that he had to talk with another official in order to warn him against malfeasance.
