President takes investigation into convict’s death under his control

On Tuesday October 9 Umed Boboyev, Adviser to the President for Legal Policy, received relatives of Hamza Ikromzoda, who died in a penal colony in Dushanbe in mid-September.

Dilkhoh Ikromzoda, the sister of Hamza, says Boboyev has promised to control the process of investigation into Hamza’s death.

According to her, their father – Fayzali Ikromov – wrote a letter to President Emomali Rahmon on September 25 and asked him to facilitate the thorough investigation into the death of Hamza.  “In the letter of response, President Emomali Rahmon noted that he is on and he took the investigation into the death of Hamza under his own control,” Dilkhoh Ikromzoda said.

She also noted that Prosecutor-General Sherali Salimzoda received them on October 6 and said that according to the preliminary results of the forensic medical examination, Hamza Ikromzoda died from injuries inflicted on him.

A Tajik anti-torture coalition on September 28 called on the government to investigate the death of an inmate allegedly tortured in Dushanbe’s penal colony and bring those guilty to justice.  The Coalition of NGOs against Torture said that Hamza Ikromzoda, 27, died in Dushanbe’s penal colony YaS No 3/1 on September 20.

Hamza’s relatives claim that he was tortured.  They say his body carried traces of torture, including burns caused by a heated iron.

The Coalition of NGOs Against Torture is demanding that authorities thoroughly investigate Ikromzoda’s case.

The Coalition says it is not the first case of the death caused by use of torture against detainees and inmates in detention facilities and jails.  The statement also lists six other suspicious deaths in custody.

The Coalition of NGOs Against Torture consists of several independent law consultancy groups such as Amparo, the Independent Center for Human Rights, League of Female Lawyers of Tajikistan, the Center for Child’s Rights, the Independent School of Journalism “Tajikistan – 21st Century,” the Bureau on Human Rights and Rule of Law (BHR), and the Nota Bene Public Association.

We will recall that under a recent amendment to Tajikistan’s Penal Code, torture is a crime punishable by up to 15 years in jail.  Only one former policeman has been convicted of torture since the Penal Code was amended in March 2012.