Commissioner for Children's Rights (Ombudsman) in Tajikistan has reportedly taken the case of rape of a 12-year-old girl in Hisor under control.  However, nobody has visited the girl so far.   “The case is very delicate,” they say.

“Commissioner for Children's Rights in Tajikistan, Ms. Rajabmo Habibullozoda, has been informed of the Hisor tragedy and she will control the progress of the case personally,”, Mir Ahad Sodiqov, an official with the Office of Children’s Ombudsman in Tajikistan.

According to him, they are aware of what happened in Hisor and they are in constant contact with local authorities.  

“Parents or relatives of the victim did not contact us.  We learned about what happened from the media and social networks.  We have offered them defense lawyer and psychologist, but they refused, saying that they are fine and the case is under investigation.  We wrote a letter to the Prosecutor-General’s Office so that the case would be investigated fairly.  The case is under personal control of the Ombudsman.  We don’t want to interfere with the investigation of this case yet,” Sodiqov said.  

He also noted that the Ombudsman’s Office has not yet communicated with the parents or the girl herself, because “the case is very delicate.” 

“We are in constant contact with local authorities and the commission for child’s rights in Hisor.  After the news of what happened came out, they (local authorities and the commission for child’s rights in Hisor) have set up a group consisting of psychologists, teachers and doctors and they visited the child and her parents,” Sodiqov said.  

Meanwhile, the girl’s parents told Asia-Plus that nobody had visited them.  

The girl’s grandma Anor Zaripova.

“Nobody has visited us and nobody has even listened to us,” said the girl’s grandma Anor Zaripova.  “Journalists and our esteemed president are our last hope.”   

Recall, a 42-year-ld resident of Hisor, Husni Abdulloyev, last year raped a 12-year-old neighbor girl, who is his first cousin.  Threatening the girl and using her helpless state, he did this several times.  Three months ago, the girl gave birth to the child.

The girl’s uncle told Asia-Plus that Husni Abdulloyev has tried to pay them off.  “He offered us 10,000 somoni so that we take back our complaint filed in the prosecutor’s office but we refused.  Abdulloyev then began to threaten us through his friends,” the man said.  

“Since local police station and prosecutor’s office have ignored our applications, we have been forced to apply to the Interior Ministry, the Prosecutor-General’s Office and the public.  Only after that, we have been invited to the Interior Ministry Criminal Investigation Directorate to testify,” the girl’s uncle noted.  

According to him, the case has been sent for investigation to the Hisor prosecutor’s office and Husni Abdulloyev has been taken into custody.  

“We hope that justice will prevail and the rapist will be brought to justice and receive the punishment he deserves,” the girl’s mother, Sanifa Abdulloyeva, said.  

The law enforcement authorities launched investigation into the incident practically only after the Social-Democratic Party of Tajikistan (SDPT) leader, Rahmatillo Zoyirov, wrote about this incident on his Facebook page on June 17.