DUSHANBE, January 5, - Tajikistan’s Supreme Court has sentenced five members of the former pro-government Popular Front, including one police officer, to extended jail terms for crimes committed in the Nineties.

A source at the Supreme Court said that the court had ruled that five members of the former Popular Front for Rudaki (formerly Leninsky) district Kholmahmad Gulov, Ismoil Boyev, Mahmadrahim Turakhonov, Shodmon Jurayev and Gulmurod Pirmatov be given jail terms from 13 to 15 years for killing 19 people in the Nineties.  They will serve their sentences in a high-security colony.     

Captain Kholmahmad Gulov served as an officer with the Rudaki police directorate from 1992 to the spring of 2006, when he was arrested. 

According to the source, they shot dead 19 residents of the village of Tilloobod for being supporters of the former opposition.  “On December 6, 1992, they shot dead 17 residents of the village,” said the source, “And on January 9, 1993, they shot dead the Taghoyev brothers -- Abdushukur and Abdusalom.” 

Kholmahmad Gulov was sentenced to 15 years in jail; the court also revoked his rank of captain.  Ismoil Boyev, Shodmon Jurayev and Gulmurod Pirmatov were sentenced to 14 years in prison each, and Mahmadrahim Turakhonov was sentenced to 13 years’ imprisonment.