Tajik Rights Activists Demand Impartial Probe Into Convict's Death

Tajik human rights organizations have urged the government to thoroughly investigate the recent death of a convict. 

Relatives of Hamza Ikromzoda, who died in a detention center in Dushanbe in mid-September, say his body carried traces of torture, including burns caused by a heated iron.

Ikromzoda’s relatives on October 1 handed the Prosecutor-General’s Office a statement by eight human rights organizations demanding independent investigations into Ikromzoda's death.

The statement lists six other suspicious deaths in custody.

Under a recent amendment to the Criminal Code, torture is a crime punishable by up to 15 years in jail.

Only one former policeman has been convicted of torture since the Criminal Code was amended in March 2012.