DUSHANBE, August 30, Asia-Plus — Uzbek national Sherali Ergashev has got a life term for killings and robberies committed in the territory of Tajikistan. 

The Tajik Supreme Court sentenced Sherali Ergashev to life imprisonment on August 30.  The sentence followed his conviction on charges of killing, robbery, rape, rape attempt and illegally crossing the border. 

The trial began on August 15.  

Presiding judge Yousuf Salimov said that Ergashev illegally crossed the Uzbek border into Tajikistan in 2005.  According to him, Ergashev is charged with committing four murders in Tajikistan during the period from February 2005 to February 2007.  “Four minor girls Madina Aripova (February 2, 2005), Sabina Tourayeva (March 18, 2005), Manizha Ostonayeva (July 4, 2006), and Mavzouna Salimova (February 8, 2007) became victims of Ergashev,” the judge said.   

As it had been reported earlier, Sherali Ergashev has previous convictions.  A regional court in Uzbekistan’s Qashqadarya region sentenced him to the supreme penalty for killing his stepsister in 2001. Later, his death penalty was commuted to 21 years’ imprisonment. 

Ergashev managed to escape from jail and he then illegally crossed the Uzbek border into Tajikistan.  He settled down in Dushanbe, working at one of local bakeries.  Ergashev was arrested on February 14, 2007.