Tajik authorities have detained another brother of Tolib Ayombekov, the jailed informal leader of Tajikistan’s volatile Gorno-Badakhshan region (GBAO).
Law enforcement sources in the Central Asian nation told RFE/RL on April 18 that Rashid Ayombekov was detained in the GBAO four days earlier.
A relative confirmed to RFE/RL’s Tajik Service that Rashid Ayombekov is currently in custody.
“Of the three brothers, Rashid Ayombekov was the only one out of prison. In general, nine members of Ayombekov’s family are currently behind bars,” the relative said, adding that Rashid Ayombekov had not committed any crimes.
Tolib Ayombekov, a longtime opponent of the authoritarian regime in Tajikistan, fought against Tajik forces in a bloody civil war during the 1990s but was integrated into the government along with other so-called warlords as part of a Moscow-brokered peace deal in 1997.
Tolib Ayombekov was handed a life sentence in November along with several other noted figures of GBAO on charges of murder, hooliganism, robbery, drugs, and illegal weapons smuggling, inciting hatred, organizing mass disorder, and creation of a criminal group.
His three sons and two of his brothers were later also convicted on similar charges and sentenced to prison terms between 12 years to life.
Exact details of the charges and sentences are not clear as all the trials were held behind closed doors.
The crackdown on informal leaders and activists in GBAO has been under way since May last year after police violently dispersed protesters in the restive region.
Demonstrators had demanded a thorough investigation into the 2021 death of an activist while in police custody and into the refusal by regional authorities to consider the resignation of regional governor and mayor of GBAO’s capital, Khorugh.
The rallies intensified after one of the protesters was killed by police, prompting the authorities to launch a “counterterrorist operation.”
Authorities violently dispersed the protesters, arresting dozens during and after the rallies.
Protests are rare in the tightly controlled nation of 9.5 million where President Emomali Rahmon has ruled with an iron fist for nearly three decades.
Source : RFERL
