DUSHANBE, July 1, 2014, Asia-Plus:

 

June 2                          - Tajik President Emomali Rahmon received visiting Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Ms. Nisha Desai Biswal.  According to the Tajik president’s official website, the sides discussed further expansion of bilateral mutually beneficial cooperation between Tajikistan and the United States in the fields of politics, regional security, trade, investment, science and technologies.

 

June 2-3           - The third session of the U.S.-Tajikistan Annual Bilateral Consultations took place in Dushanbe.  The sides reportedly discussed a number of issues related to regional security, human dimensions, economic development, and bilateral cooperation between Tajikistan and the United States.

 

June 3              - The State Committee for National Security said in a report that Islamic cleric Hakimali Nizomov was arrested for allegedly holding religious classes at his home in which students were beaten and tortured.  Hakimali Nizomov had been charged with torture, polygamy, and conducting illegal religious instruction.  According to investigators, Nizomov''s students say they were beaten and tortured with electric shocks while attending his classes.  Nizomov holds a state-issued license allowing him to conduct Islamic classes. He is an imam at a local mosque and madrasah.  The parents of some 80 students between 3 and 18 years of age reportedly paid Nizomov 300 somoni each month for tuition.

 

June 4-6           - Acting Foreign Minister and Foreign Minister-designate of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Zarar Ahmad Osmani visited Tajikistan.  While in Dushanbe, Zarar Ahmad Osmani reportedly held talks with Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, Foreign Minister Sirojiddin Aslov, Minister of Economic Development and Trade Shari Rahimzoda and Minister of Transport Khairullo Asozoda.  The sides discussed bilateral political and economic cooperation between Tajikistan and Afghanistan.

 

June 5                          - Law enforcement experts from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member nations gathered in the Tajik capital to discuss the drug trafficking prevention issues.  According to the Tajik Drug Control Agency (DCA) press center, they discussed issues related to cooperation in combating drug trafficking, carrying out joint actions to prevent trafficking in psychotropic substances, synthetic narcotics and chemical substances used for production of narcotics.

 

June 5-6           - The fourth meeting of the Tajikistan-Poland intergovernmental commission for trade and economic cooperation took place in Dushanbe.  Presided over by Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Tajikistan, Umed Davlatzod, and Deputy Minister of Economic of Poland Andzej Dycha, the meeting discussed state and prospects of further expansion of economic cooperation between the two countries.  The sides reportedly outlined sectors like agriculture, construction, pharmaceutics, banking, light industry, and tourism as areas that could drive expansion of trade between the two countries.

 

June 8                          - Afghan media reports say police in the northern province of Kunduz have detained two Taliban fighters from neighboring Tajikistan.  The two men were identified only as Komil and Umar.  The two reportedly confessed to being ethnic Uzbeks from Tajikistan who had arrived in Afghanistan from Russia.  A third Taliban fighter, who had accompanied the two Uzbeks, was from Pakistan.  He blew himself up after refusing to surrender.

 

June 9                          - The popular video-sharing website YouTube was partially blocked in Tajikistan.  Asomuddin Atoyev, the chairman of Tajikistan''s Association of Internet Service Providers, said the Tajik government''s Communications Service might have requested that some Internet providers block YouTube.  However, the chief of the Communications Service, Beg Zuhurov said that his agency had nothing to do with the situation.  The reason for the blockage is not known.

 

June 10            - The chairman of the Islamic Revival Party (IRP), Muhiddin Kabiri, was pelted with eggs and tomatoes on a visit to the southern city of Kulob.  The assaulters reportedly accused the party members of wakening the civil war in the 1900s and seeking to destabilize the country today;

- A group of protesters rallied in front of the British Embassy in Dushanbe.  They reportedly threw stones at the embassy building.  Some media reports say the protesters also smashed the embassy''s security cameras and scuffled with security personnel.  The gathering was not sanctioned by city authorities and all the protesters were brought to a police station in Dushanbe’s Ismoili Somoni district

 

June 10-11        - Latvian President Andris Berzins paid an official visit to Tajikistan.  During the visit, he held talks with his Tajik counterpart, Emomali Rahmon on June 10.  The two sides signed several documents, including an agreement on joint efforts to fight terrorism, organized crime, and drug trafficking, and another on joint cooperation in education, science, tourism, and border guarding.  Rahmon praised bilateral ties and described the talks as an "important step” toward strengthening “our long-term bilateral cooperation.”

 

June 12            - Three men were sentenced to five days in jail and seven other people, including one woman, were fined 270 somoni each after the Islamic Revival Party (IRP) leader, Muhiddin Kabiri, was pelted with eggs and tomatoes on a visit to Kulob on June 10.  All of them were charged with disorderly conduct;  

                        - Google was reportedly blocked by a majority of Internet service providers in Tajikistan.

June 13            - Tajik Foreign Minister Sirojididn Aslov received visiting Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, Ms. Fatema Z. Sumar.  According to the Tajik MFA information department, the sides discussed a number of issues being of mutual interest.

 

June 16            - Alexander Sodiqov, 31, a Tajik researcher contracted by the University of Exeter to help with a scholarly project, was detained in Khorog, the capital of the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) on suspicion of spying for an unnamed country after he met with local civil society activist Alim Sherzamonov.  A number of international human rights organizations issued statements expressing concern over Sodiqov''s detention and urging Tajik authorities to provide detailed and timely information about his situation.

 

June 17-18        - Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif paid an official visit to Tajikistan.  During the visit, he reported held talks with Tajik President Emomali Rahmon and Tajik Prime Minister Qohir Rasoulzoda.  The visit resulted in signing of five cooperation documents

 

June 18            - The Cooperation Committee between the European Union (EU) and the Republic of Tajikistan held its third meeting in Dushanbe.  The Cooperation Committee reportedly reaffirmed the commitment of both parties to see the EU-Tajikistan relations strengthen across a number of areas, and provided a good opportunity to review recent economic and social reforms in Tajikistan.  Both sides discussed with the continuation of EU programs in Central Asia in the new 2014-2020 EU budget period;   

                                   - Nizomkhon Jourayev, who was a successful businessman who owned the chemical plant in the northern city of Isfara, failed to show up for his trial on murder and embezzlement.  His current whereabouts are unknown.  Jourayev was arrested in Russia in 2010 at the request of Tajik authorities.  He then appeared in Tajikistan in 2012 after Russian authorities released him for unexplained reasons.  Jourayev then testified as a key witness in several high-profile trials against an opposition politician, former Supreme Court judges, and other officials.  Jourayev had been asked not to leave Dushanbe before his trial.  Tajik authorities added him to their most-wanted list.   

 

June 19            - A military court in Dushanbe sentenced Usmon Ghayratov, medic of military unit 2026 of Tajik Border Troops, to nine years in prison.  He was found guilty of hazing, inflicting bodily harm, and leaving a serviceman in danger.  The court also ruled that Ghayratov must pay 8,000 somoni to Shahbol Mirzoyev''s relatives to compensate for moral damages, and 5,700 somoni ($1,158) to cover Mirzoyev''s treatment in hospital.  Mirzoyev suffered severe spinal injuries and became paralyzed as the result of bullying in March;

                                  - A military court in the northern Sughd province sentenced Sergeant Farrukh Davlatov to nine years in jail for beating a conscript to death during a hazing incident.  The court found Sergeant Farrukh Davlatov guilty of the death of Private Akmal Davlatov in April.  The two men are not related.  Military officials had first said that Davlatov had died after choking on his food.

                                   - Tajik researcher Alexander Sodiqov, who was arrested in Khorog by security officials on June 16, was transported to a SCNS-run pretrial detention facility in Dushanbe following ruling handed down by a court in Dushanbe’s Ismoili Somoni district.  He reportedly has a lawyer and his family has been notified.  Sodiqov faces charges of high treason and spying.

 

June 22-25        - Tajik President Emomali Rahmon paid a state visit to Malaysia.   Rahmon and Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak witnessed the signing of five Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) and one agreement to strengthen cooperation.  The MoUs signed are bilateral consultation, cooperation in the fields of higher education, tourism, physical training and sports, MoU with the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) and the Agreement on Economic, Technical and Scientific Cooperation.

 

June 23            - Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a resolution tightening the requirements for Tajik nationals to enter the Russian Federation.  As of January 1, 2015, Tajik citizens will no longer be able to enter the Russian Federation only with their national identification documents, known as “internal passports.”  They must now obtain travel documents, such as regular, service, or diplomatic passports.

 

June 23-24        - A two-day Business To Business (B2B) conference that brought together entrepreneurs from Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan and Pakistan was held in Dushanbe.  The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) partnered with the Tajikistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Kabul Chamber of Commerce and Industries, the Kyrgyzstan Chamber of Commerce, and the Pakistan Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industries to organize the event.  The conference participants reportedly explored business deals and investment opportunities in the four countries.

 

June 25            - The Interior Ministry reportedly completed investigation into the incident that took place outside the British Embassy in Dushanbe on June 10 and administrative action was imposed upon five persons.  According to information posted on the Interior Ministry’s website, 15 other people were warned and preventive conversation was carried out with remaining 27 people participating in the protest rally in front of the British Embassy. 

 

June 27            - Tajikistan celebrated the National Unity Day.