Suspects of a fatal crash, in which young talented singer Nekrouz Niyozov was killed, has been detained, according to the Dushanbe Police Department.  

A source within the Dushanbe Police Directorate refrained from disclosing the identities of the suspects.

Meanwhile, Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service, known locally as Radio Ozodi, reported that one of the participants in the September 21 traffic accident in Dushanbe is the 18-year-old Komyob Faizullo, the son of the Russian-Tajik Slavic University (RTSU) Rector Mashrab Faizullo, and another participant in that fatal crash is the 19-year-old Oyatullo Akhtamzoda.  

Radio Ozodi noted that there was no information about Oyatullo Akhtamzoda. 

The source further noted that criminal proceedings have been instituted against Faizullo and Akhtamzoda under the provisions of Article 212 (2) of Tajikistan’s Penal Code – violation of traffic regulations and exploitation of transport means causing a person's death or major injury to the health.  

This action is punishable by up to five years in jail deprivation of the right to hold specific positions or be engaged in a specific activity for 3 years.

”The investigation is under way, all necessary data and evidence are being collected to determine whose fault the accident occurred.  Therefore, it is still too early to say who is to blame,” the source within the Dushanbe Police Directorate added.   

Meanwhile, one of the late singer's relatives told Asia-Plus that both detainees are students of the Russian-Tajik Slavic University and “they study in parallel groups.” 

“Now the suspects are trying to shift the blame onto each other,” the relative said.

Recall, the traffic accident involving two Lexus RX350 took place in Dushanbe near Bomi Jahon Restaurant on the night of September 21 at around 10:30 pm. 

According to official version, Komyob Faizullo accidently hit Nekrouz Niyozov with his car while he was standing on the side of the road.  Nekrouz died a few hours later in the hospital.

The Dushanbe Police Directorate says Lexus RX350 (number plate 4800 CC 01) driven by Komyob Faizullo collided with Lexus RX350 (number plate 1981 WM 01) driven by the 19-year-old Oyatullo Akhtamzoda and then hit the 27-year-old Nekrouz Niyozov, who was standing on the side of the road. 

Nekrouz received various injuries and was taken to the Qariyai Bolo hospital, here died on the morning of September 22.     

It is to be noted that it was not the first case that the children of the country's elite were involved in traffic accidents. 

Thus, during his visit to the Interior Ministry on November 20, 2013, President Emomali Rahmon touched upon the issue of reckless driving by children of the country’s elite and urged to punish all traffic offenders, regardless of whose children they are.

The president stated this a month after a fatal crash involving the 16-year-old Rasoul Amonullo, the son of the then chief of the Tajik state railway company Amonullo Hukumov.  

Three persons were killed and three others were seriously injured on October 9, 2013 as BMW driven by Rasoul Amonullo crashed into VAZ- 21-04.  Rasoul Amonullo was reportedly driving his brand-new BMW above the speed limit in the wee hours of the morning when he struck another vehicle.

On August 17, 2008, Bobour Azimov, the son of the then Secretary of the Security Council Amirrqul Azimov, was involved in a fatal crash.  Bobour Azimov’s Toyota-Avalon hit pedestrian near the Kokhi Borbad State Complex in Dushanbe in the evening of August 17, 2008.  The pedestrian died on the spot.  After that, Bobour Azimov went into oncoming traffic and crashed his car into another vehicle.  As a result of the collision one person was killed and five others, including one child, were injured.

On April 17, 2009, a court in Dushanbe’s Sino district sentenced Bobour Azimov to five years in prison.  The sentence followed his conviction on charge of violation of traffic regulations causing death of two or more persons (Article 212 of Tajikistan’s Penal Code).

In September 2016, the 23-year-old Faromouz Saidov, the son of the then first deputy prime minister, crashed his Toyota Camry into a public-utilities vehicle, killing one pedestrian and a fellow passenger. Police investigators opened a probe into the accident, but prosecutors later determined that Faromouz Saidov was not at blame as “there were technical problems with the car.”  

Fatalities in the accident, which occurred on the night of March 23, 2019, included the son-in-law of Saimumin Yatimov, the head of Tajikistan’s State Committee for National Security (SCNS).  Eurasianet reported on March 27, 2019 that footage of the crash captured by traffic camera showed a Lexus SUV driving at high speed along Dushanbe’s central Roudaki Avenue before plowing into a lamppost.

Prague-based news website Akhbor cited unnamed sources as saying that the drivers of the vehicle were racing their friends when the collision occurred.  Two of the passengers were grievously injured, while another two, including Yatimov’s son-in-law, Saidjafar Saidov, 19, were killed on the spot.

Eurasianet has learned that the passengers of the Lexus had earlier in the evening been attending the wedding party of the younger sister of Zarifbek Davlatov, one of President Emomali Rahmon’s sons-in-law, at the Hyatt Regency Dushanbe hotel.

According to Eurasianet and Akhbor’s sources, following festivities, schoolmates of the bride decided to hold a car race through the center of the city.  The car involved in the crash belonged to Kabir Kabirov, a son of the owner of Dushanbe’s main bazaar.  Kabirov, who survived the collision, was admitted to the hospital for treatment but was later placed in jail, pending investigations.

The other injured passenger was the nephew of the then speaker of the upper house of parliament Mahmadsaid Ubaidulloyev.  

Children of Tajikistan’s political and business elite — known informally as the “golden youth” — routinely organize similar high-risk contests.  The sound of powerful cars tearing through Dushanbe’s deserted streets late at night is commonplace.