|
News
|
 |
|
21 July 2015, 14:35Tajik former election committee member from Islamic party jailed for illegal arms possession
Dushanbe, July 21, Interfax - The court of a district in Tajikistan pronounced a guilty verdict to the former member of the Central Committee for Elections and Referenda from the opposition Party of Islamic Revival, Dzhamoliddin Makhmudov, the press service of the country's Supreme Court said.
"The Gissar district court sentenced Makhmudov to five years in a high-security prison, finding him guilty under Article 195.1 for illegal acquisition, handover, sale, storage, transportation or carrying of weapons, ammunition, explosives and explosive devices," the court said.
Another two members of the Party of Islamic Revival Istam Sadulloyev and Obid Nazriyev were sentenced to a fine of 4,000 somoni (around $640) each for the failure to inform about the crime.
Makhmudov was arrested on February 11, three weeks before the parliamentary elections in Tajikistan, at which the Party of Islamic Revival won no seats at all for the first time in its history, according to official reports.
The detectives said that weapons and ammunition, namely two Makarov pistols with four magazines, 51 rounds for them and a fuse for the grenade had been found during the search at a house of the Party of Islamic Revival member on February 9. House owner Latif Sardorov testified that the guns and ammunition belonged to Makhmudov, 55, who was a member of the Party of Islamic Revival Supreme Board, an adviser to the party's leader and a member of the Tajik Central Committee for Elections and Referenda from the party at that moment of time.
Sardorov testified that Makhmudov allegedly handed the weapons to him back in 1996, demanding he "should store carefully these guns, because they will be needed and he had done so during all these years."
The Party of Islamic Revival numbers more than 40,000 supporters, being the second largest party in the Central Asian republic. This party is the only opposition party which is represented in the republic's parliament. The party also remains the only legal Islamic party in the former Soviet republics. In addition, the Party of Islamic Revival insists it does not call for the transformation of secular Tajikistan into an Islamic state.
During the civil war in 1992-1997, the Party of Islamic Revival made part of the United Tajik Opposition, fighting against the Popular Front which brought incumbent President Emomali Rakhmon to power. The United Tajik Opposition included Islamist forces and advocates of liberal democracy. |
