Suspect’s mother demands compensation from the interior ministry for her son’s death

The mother of a suspect who died after he was allegedly beaten by police demands compensation from the Ministry of Interior.

Ms. Niyozbibi Bouriyeva, the mother of Bahromiddin Shodiyev, demands the Interior Ministry pay 180,000 somoni (equivalent to some 38,000 USD) in damages for moral and financial losses.

Shodiyev’s family lawyer, Ms. Gulchehra Kholmatova, told Asia-Plus that the lawsuit had been filed in a court in Dushanbe’s Shohmansour district.

We will recall that officers from the police station in Dushanbe's Shohmansour district arrested Bahromiddin Shodiyev on October 19, 2011 on suspicion of theft.  The following day, he was taken comatose to the National Medical Center, where he underwent surgery.  He died in hospital eleven days later, on October 30, 2011.

Relatives say Bahromiddin Shodiyev died eleven days later after he was beaten in the police station in Dushanbe’s Shohmansour district.

Meanwhile, police say Shodiyev, who they suspected of having committed a series of thefts, tried to escape by jumping out of a second-floor window during his interrogation at the police station.

Bahromiddin’s mother says her son suffered from drug addiction and they were going to hospitalize him on October 19, 2011 “but four police officers detained him not far from our house and took him to the police station in the Shohmansour district.”  “The next day, he was taken to the resuscitation department.  Physicians needed my permission for operation; that is why police informed me that my son is in the hospital,” Ms. Bouriyeva said.  According to her, Bahromiddin told her that police officers severely beat him making him admit to the crimes he did not commit.  “He said they used beatings and electric shock to extort confessions,” said she.  “He said police taped his mouth shut so no one could hear him screaming.  He was practically unconscious when heard that policemen were agreeing that if anything goes wrong they will say that he sustained injuries while jumping out the second-floor window.”

Major Dilovar Murodov, Captain Alisher Inoyatov and Lieutenant Abdurahmon Dodov from the police station in Dushanbe’s Shohmansour district were dismissed as a result of the internal investigation into their alleged role in the death of Bahromiddin Shodiyev.  Besides, the deputy chief of the Shohmansour police station, Lieutenant-Colonel Ilhomjon Karimov, was dismissed.  Shohmansour police station chief, Colonel Safarmad Odinayev, the chief of the investigation department within the Shohmansour police station, Major Abduqodir Nazarov, and his deputy, Senior Lieutenant Bahodur Sodiqov, were reprimanded.

On February 12, 2013, Abdurahmon Dodov was sentenced to two years in a settlement-colony (the prototype for the ‘open prisons’ that exist in many Western European countries).

It is not the first case, when the Interior Ministry is ordered to pay compensation for suspect’s death.

Last month, a Dushanbe court ordered the Interior Ministry to pay compensation to the widow of Safarali Sangov, who died after he was beaten in police station.  Safarali Sangov, 37, died after he was arrested on drug-related charges in March 2011.  Police initially said Sangov injured himself while trying to commit suicide.  Sangov's relatives insisted he had been severely beaten while in custody.  Two officers charged with negligence leading to Sangov's death were arrested.  Both policemen were freed under a general amnesty decree in October 2012 before a trial could take place.  The court in Dushanbe’s Sino district ordered the Interior Ministry to pay 46,500 somoni ($10,000) to Sangov's widow.

Besides, the court in Dushanbe’s Ismoili Somoni district on March 4 ordered the Main Directorate for Execution of Punishments under the Ministry of Justice to pay 30,000 somoni (equivalent to more than 6,000 USD) to Savrinisso Gulova, the widow of Ismoil Bachajonov, who died in mysterious circumstances in pretrial detention facility in 2011 after being beaten.

Ismoil Bachajonov, 32, was sentenced to 6½ years in prison in 2009 for drug trafficking.  He was serving his term in a medium-security penal colony but in 2011 the medium-security regime was reportedly changed to the prison regime for systematic violation of regime of serving his sentence.  He was taken to Dushanbe’s pretrial detention facility for further transportation under guard to the prison, where he died in June 2011 after reportedly being beaten.  Three officers from the pretrial facility were sentenced to various jail terms.