DUSHANBE, January 21, 2014, Asia-Plus – The Islamic Revival Party (IRP) Political Council met on January 20 to discuss issues related to the arrest of its member Umedjon Tojiyev in the northern city of Isfara and his death in a prison hospital in Khujand, the capital of Sughd province.

A statement posted on IRP’s website, in particular, notes that during meetings with his defense lawyers, Umedjon Tojiyev, who was detained by officers from the Isfara police station on October 30, said that police officers had tortured and beaten him in order to extort confessions.

“According to witnesses and lawyers, the body carries traces of torture and beating and use of electric shock torture and its negative impact on heart became the cause of death of Umedjon Tojiyev,” the statement says.

Therefore, the IRP Political Council considers that the main cause of death of Umedjon Tojiyev is irresponsibility, negligence and inhumanity of police officers.

“Law enforcement authorities have ignored repeated applications and letters of lawyers and relatives of Umedjon Tojiyev about his bad health condition and the necessity of transferring him to hospital.  Therefore, responsibility for death of Umedjon Tojiyev lies on the shoulders of the law enforcement authorities,” the statement stresses.

The IRP Political Council demands that the Prosecutor-General’s Office set up a competent commission for launching investigation into the death of Tojiyev.

We will recall that the 34-year-old resident of the Chorkuh jamoat in the Isfara district Umedjon Tojiyev died in a prison hospital in Khujand on January 19.

Tojiyev was arrested on October 30 and he was hospitalized on November 2 after jumping from a third-floor window at the Isfara police station.