What’s Behind the Disappearance of Ethnic Uzbek Community Leader?

Recently, the head of the [Social Democratic Party of Tajikistan] SDP, Rahmatillo Zoyirov, said that after the disappearance of the Chairman of the Uzbek Society of Khatlon [Province], Salimboi Shamsiddinov, members of this community have come under pressure. [Asia Plus, “AP”] correspondent decided to find out what's going on with that community. 

There was a man – and he is gone? 

The Chairman of the ethnic Uzbeks of Khatlon, Salimboi Shamsiddinov, went missing on March 15 this year. On that day he went out and never came back. The head of the Social Democratic Party [SDP] of Tajikistan, Rahmatillo Zoirov, and later, the international human rights organization Amnesty International then stated that [Shamsiddinov’s] disappearance may have a political motive. 

In particular, R. Zoirov said there could be delays by the law enforcement or security agencies [in locating him given Shamsiddinov’s] active participation in the work of the initiative group on reform of the Law on the election of the president and his appeals to ethnic Uzbeks in Tajikistan to vote for R. Zoirov in the presidential elections in November of this year. In addition, the international human rights organization [Amnesty] writes that [Shamsiddinov’s] disappearance may be related to his interview with the media, "in which Salim Shamsiddinov criticized the government of Tajikistan for its ongoing nationalist politics." 

Amnesty International has expressed concern about the disappearance of the opposition activist a few months before the presidential election and called on the Tajik authorities to promptly investigate the case and to determine his whereabouts. 

However, where he can be located - is still unknown, and the family of Shamsiddinov have no hope [regarding the search by Tajikistan’s] law enforcement in this matter.

"We’re alraedy tired of talking, and for what?" 

“AP” REPORTER in the Khatlon Province visited the relatives of S. Shamsiddinov. They had no particular desire to talk to a journalist, because, according to them, they’ve talked a lot about this issue already with the media and law enforcement agencies, with no results. 

“Whatever you ask me about this, we have said it all to investigators and reporters already. And what’s the result? We do not want to repeat it all again, there is no point,” said [Shamsiddinov’s] sister and wife, Khayrinisso Yorova [and] Bibiniso Shamsiddinova. 

But they [also] said that they did not doubt that his disappearance is linked to his activism. According to them, in the past [in May 2012] he was beaten by unknown people right in front of the National Security Agency [GKNB, in Qurghon-Teppa, Khatlon’s capital] and the police saw the assailants, but took no action to detain them ... then [someone] tried to set fire to [Shamsiddinov’s] diner. 

The city prosecutor of Qurghon-Teppa, Bahriddin Bozorov, says the case of S. Shamsiddinov is overseen not only by the city prosecutor's office, but also the Prosecutor General's Office, and they shall take all the measures necessary in the search. 

“Police officers are doing everything possible to find Shamsiddinov, but we cannot release information on the investigation as long as the person is not found,” he said. “I'll say one thing, everyone who was suspected in the case has been questioned by us. We’ve sent requests to all organs and conducted other search activities,” said the prosecutor. 

The Head OMVD [Police] of Qurghon-Teppa, Suhrob Salomov, was more talkative in this matter. According to him, after the [relatives of] S. Shamsiddinova approached them with their statement, they quickly viewed the route that he was running in the morning, and all the places that he visited every day. 

“We found no signs of a struggle or fight in a place where he had been, did not find witnesses who could shed some light on his disappearance. After the first activiteis of search, which, unfortunately, failed, on March 19, we filed a case of disappeared. [We commenced] operative-search 12 point plan. And we continue to work according to this plan. In particular, we sent to all OMVD country-wide a certificate of Shamsiddinov and a photograph. Also a few days in a row, on the regional television and regional radio there were announcements about his disappearance. Our staff has repeatedly traveled to the places where the corpses of unknown people [have been found], but they were other people, and the case of Shamsiddinov is still undetermined,” said Suhrob Salomov. 

He also said that the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Khatlon Province is also personally overseeing this case.

Outside of politics? 

SPEAKING of versions of what could be the cause of the disappearance of S. Shamsiddinova, the investigators on the case have exclude any political motives behind the case. 

S. Salomov believes that Shamsiddinov was a powerful man who could somehow influence the political life of the region or country, and [given] the statements of the SDP [leader], the investigator finds himself trying to move toward the Uzbekspeaking population. 

“We have several versions [and possibilities], but we rule out a political motive. Now we consider the version that he could have become a victim of a crime; it may be due to debts he had, or that he hid himself to raise his rating. All of these versions, we continue to check. There are other snenarios, but in the interest of the investigation I cannot tell you. By the way, in Khatlon there are 45 missing people today, and they are of different nationalities. We are all searching for all equally,” said S. Salomov. 

The political motive in the disappearance of Shamsiddinov [cannot be ruled out according to] chairman of Qurghon-Teppa Society of Uzbeks "Dustlik", Muhamaddjon Tursunov. [But] he is also of the opinion that S. Shamsiddinov could have disappeared due to the large debts that he had. 

“Most likely, he fled, fearing that they would seize his property because of debts. Or he got in touch with some groups or movements, and left to Afghanistan or somewhere else. Nothing else could explain his complete disappearance. He's not a child, he's a grown man and a former police officer, so he could not just be kidnapped,” said Tursunov. 

However, the relatives of S. Shamsiddinov distrust the words of M. Tursunov. According to them, he was biased towards Salimboi, as was the chairwoman of the National Society of Uzbeks, Muharam Mirzoalieva, so they do not rule out that these people might have been involved in the disappearance of S. Shamsiddinov. 

M. Tursunov also said that it was not the first time he heard such accusations, but they are unfounded. M. Mirzoalieva also described them as baseless, but did not want to talk with an “AP” reporter on the subject. 

The Head OMVD of Qurghon-teppa, Suhrob Salomov, in turn, notes that these versions are also double-checked, but they have not been confirmed. He also ruled out the possibility that the beatings, arson and disappearance of S. Shamsiddinov may be linked. According to him, in fact, when S. Shamsiddinova was beaten, their employees were close by, but when they saw the crowd and approached, they saw people already fleeing. And did not run after them, thinking that Shamsiddinov knew them, so later they would be able to detain them. 

“Our staff thought that he knows them and wanted to help Salimboi, but he pretended that he was unconscious. If he immediately had said that he did not did not know them, we'll probably be able to catch them. Then we opened a criminal case, but, unfortunately, could not find them ... By the way, Salimboi is an aggressive man. When we called him on his beating, he came to my office and almost had a fight with my subordinates. Do not rule out that that the fight could have been arranged by one of his tenants. The fact that he was renting his diner [and] the tenant did repair facilities, bought new equipment, and Shamsiddinov threw him out and did not return the money for the rent and the cost of repairs. I think he also suspected his tenant, but there was no direct evidence,” says Salomov. 

Pressure? 

Despite the fact that law enforcement agencies exclude political motives in the case of the disappearance of the head of ethnic Uzbek Society of Khatlon, some points indicate exactly that. 

S. Shamsiddinov, indeed, has often criticized the authorities for the discriminatory attitude towards the ethnic Uzbek community. This he said in his interview given before to the local media. Shortly before his disappearance, he was talking about this and said so to the "AP" [as well]. 

In particular, he lamented the fact that many of their rights were violated in the country. Representatives of their community are not allowed to participate in the political life of the country, although their numbers in Tajikistan are more than 2 million, they do not have even a deputy at the district level, not to mention positions in the government. In addition, according to him, the number of Uzbeks living in the territory of the Republic of Tajikistan are deliberately understated by the official structures, and he believed that this is done for some political motives. 

He also expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that, as the largest ethnic community in Tajikistan, [ethnic Uzbeks] do not even have their own [TV] channel, or at least 15 minutes on TV. 

In addition, he said that the government has reduced instruction in the Uzbek language in schools, [the community is] out of printed books in the Uzbek language, so they have to send their children to Tajik schools, which, according to him, is detrimental to their native language, putting it under the threat of extinction in Tajikistan. 

In general, he believed that their rights were violated in the country, and especially so their constitutional rights. He also said that all these issues were to be discussed at the conference of the NGO "Dustlik" ethnic Uzbek communities of Khatlon province, as had been planned. 

According to him, after the conference they were going to take action to protect their rights, in particular, they wanted to reach out to the international human rights institutions, if they fail to do so within the country itself. Not the first time? 

After the incident with S. Shamsiddinov, the media reported that deputy to S. Shamsiddinov, a member of the SDP, Ravshan Mutalibov, was detained in Krasnodar [Russia] after arriving from Dushanbe and drugs were found in his luggage. 

How, then, said the head of the SDP, Rahmatillo Zoirov, has the possibility been ruled out that these cases are linked. According to him, the drugs were planted on R. Mutalibov, as indicated by many facts. 

In particular, according to him, it seems suspicious that on the day of departure Mutalibov was summoned to the police department [in Qurghon-Teppa] and the deputy head had questioned him about where, when, how and with what flight he will fly to Russia. Other than that, nothing else was asked of him ... 

"On arrival at the Krasnodar Airport, R. Mutalibov’s name was called out by a police officer, which is surprising. Where would the latter have known his name if he had not registered and there are no other design? R. Mutalibov got his luggage and passed through the green channel, and the customs officer, checking the luggage, asked him what was in the bag. Then R. Mutalibov discovers that his new bag had a broken lock, and out of the bag customs officer pulls out two bundles, tapered with brown adhesive tape, approximately 180g, with a powder similar to heroin. Fortunately, his fingerprints were not found on the package. However, he was detained, and then a criminal investigation into the trafficking of heroin [was undertaken] … and he is now being held in prison No. 1 in Krasnodar", - said R. Zoirov in a statement. 

He stressed that the incident has a political motive. According to [Zoirov], a number of other members of the Uzbek community of Khatlon province "are also under pressure and fear ..."