DUSHANBE, February 7, Asia-Plus -- Three officers from the police directorate for the Ismoili Somoni district of Dushanbe were arrested on February 5 on suspicion of having used torture to extort confession from a 15-year-old teenager, Dushanbe prosecutor Qurbonali Muhabbatov said.  

Muhabbatov said that a 15-year-old Nodir Nabiyev was detained in January on suspicion of having being involved in theft.  “Although Nabiyev has been held in the pretrial detention facility for a long time, his parents have not been informed of this,” Muhabbatov said.    

According to the prosecutor, the preliminary investigation has established that the officers used torture to extract Nabiyev''s confess to participation in the crime.  “They have used beatings to extort confession from the teenager and it cannot be ruled out that they have also used electric shock during interrogations,” the prosecutor said, noting that numerous scratches were revealed on the teenager’s body. 

“We have reason to suppose that these scratches could be inflicted by blunt objects,” said Muhabbatov, “However, the possibility that the scratches are the result of use of electric shock cannot be ruled out.”   

            The Dushanbe prosecutor’s office has instituted criminal proceedings against those three police officers, whose names are not disclosed in the interest of the investigation, according to Muhabbatov.  They are charged under Article 316, Part 3 of Tajikistan’s Criminal Code – abuse of office.  If convicted, they could face from five to ten years in prison on this charge.    .  

According to the Dushanbe prosecutor’s office, 12 officers from the Dushanbe police directorate were convicted last year on the charge of abuse of office.