DUSHANBE, June 19, 2014, Asia-Plus - Tajik researcher Alexander Sodiqov, who was detained by security officials in Khorog, the capital of the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) on June 16, was reportedly shown on local television in Khorog in the evening of June 18.

“He looked a little pallid and embarrassed and mostly likely he said what they made him say.  He spoke about his academic work that he was carrying out in Khorog.  According to him, he met with Alim Sherzamonov and the latter allegedly said that if in 2012 residents of Gorno Badakhshan did not trust only the power wielding structures, now they do not trust the government, the Aga Khan institutions and even the Aga Khan himself,” a Khorog resident told Asia-Plus in an interview.

“We doubt that Sherzamonov could say so and Sherzamonov himself also denies this.  Apparently, somebody wanted him to say that the people does not trust the Aga Khan,” the Asia-Plus interlocutor said, noting that a ten-minute-log video was shown on Khorog television in the morning of June 19 as well.

According to him, the video appears to have been heavily edited and the majority of residents of Khorog do not believe that Alexander Sodiqov is a spy.  

We will recall that Alexander Sodiqov, Tajik researcher contracted by the University of Exeter to help with a scholarly project, was detained in Khorog on June 16.

Tajikistan’s State Committee for National Security (SCNS) said on June 17 that Alexander Sodiqov had been detained in Khorog on suspicion of spying for an unnamed country after he met with civil society activist Alim Sherzamonov.

 Mr. Simon Wright, Manager, College of Social Science and International Studies (SSIS) at University of Exeter, on June 17 made an official statement regarding detention of Alexander Sodiqov in Khorog.

The statement, in particular, says that the purpose of Sodiqov’s visit to Gorno Badakhshan was solely related to his academic work.  The statement also notes that Alexander Sodiqov was conducting research for the project, Rising Powers and Conflict Management in Central Asia, which is funded by the British Scientific Council.

The project aims to explain the reasons for and the consequences of the failure of Western approaches to conflict management to gain traction in post-Soviet Central Asia. The project''s case studies are three significant outbreaks of violence in recent years: in Khorog, Tajikistan in 2012; in the Rasht valley in Tajikistan in 2010-11; and in Osh, Kyrgyzstan in 2010. The project involves a team of three academics from the universities of Exeter, Newcastle and Bradford.