A junior sergeant in Sughd region, who wrote the name of his hometown, the city of Konibodom, on the heads of 9 soldiers, was sentenced to five years in prison.
The military court of the city of Khujand found Muhriddin Islamov, 29 years old and the mother of one child, guilty of abuse of office and exceeding the limits of official authority (the first part of Article 391 of the Criminal Code). The verdict was issued on September 18 of this year.
According to the document obtained by Radio Ozodi on September 20, the prosecutor accused Sergeant Muhriddin Islamov of violating the rules of conduct in the army.
It is also stated in the document that “Muhriddin Islamov was obliged to reduce the hair on the head of nine recruits, but in order to show his physical advantage … he forcibly cut their hair in the form of the letters K, O, N, I, B, O, D, O, M shaved and humiliated their dignity in front of other soldiers.”
Islamov himself said in his last speech in the courtroom that he “regrets”. The defense attorney also wanted to close the case based on the good character of his client.
“Judge Shogufron Usmonzoda said during the reading of the sentence that he took into account the mitigating aspects of the punishment and issued his sentence. Based on it, Islamov should spend five years in prison,” – reported a source familiar with Radio Ozodi.
In the summer of this year, a photo was published on social networks, where the name “Konibodom” was created by shaving part of the head of nine recruits. A monogram on each soldier’s head. The incident took place in the “Chorkuh” border guard unit in Isfara.
The General Prosecutor’s Office of Tajikistan said that the photo was taken in January 2022, only in June of this year and after the end of the service of sergeant M. Davlatov became a media person. In this case, Muhriddin Islamov from Konibodom played the role of a veteran, and M. Davlatov played the role of a photographer.
In the last few months, this is the second case of prosecution of former soldiers for insulting recruits in the military units of Tajikistan.
In May of this year, the Supreme Court of Tajikistan found one officer and seven former soldiers guilty of beating recruits in the military unit of the Border Guard Forces of the KDAM and sentenced them to 9 to 11 years in prison .
They were arrested at the end of April this year following the broadcast of a video of soldiers being beaten in a border guard unit.
Mehtarsolarship or “dedovshina” is an old problem in the Tajik army. From time to time, news about the injury or death of soldiers finds its way into the media. In October of this year, the Tajik government told the United Nations that more than 100 soldiers died from 2019 to 2021 due to “non-observance of military regulations”.
Source : OZODI
