KHUJAND, April 12, Asia-Plus  -- The Sughd prosecutor Khairullo Saidov has denied the fact that woman being held at a pretrial detention facility in Khujand went on hunger strike as “unfounded.”  

“According to information we have, Ms. Lutfinisso Muhammadiyeva has continued actively cooperating with investigators to detect this crime,” said the prosecutor.  “Criminal proceedings have been instated against hear, and the Sughd transportation prosecutor’s office is heading criminal investigation into this case.” 

In the meantime, Nouriddin Imomov, the deputy transportation prosecutor for Sughd, told Asia-Plus that Muhammadiyeva, who had been deputy shift supervisor at the Khujand airport, was detained on December 3, 2007 on suspicion of having been involved in drug trafficking.

“The Sughd transportation prosecutor’s office brought formal charges against her under the provisions of three articles of the Penal Code of Tajikistan – Article 200, Part 4 (drug trafficking), Article 289 (contraband) and Article 32 (preparation for crime and criminal attempt), Imomov said, adding that the investigation is under way.  

We will recall that in an open letter released on April 10, Ms. Lutfinisso Muhammadiyeva, who has been held at the pretrial detention facility in Khujand for already four months on suspicion of having been involved in drug trafficking, stated that she went on hunger strike on April 9.  

In her letter, Ms. Muhammadiyeva, in particular, says that she went on the hunger strike protesting at violation of laws in the country. 

According to her, the Khujand transportation prosecutor’s office detained her without any reason, suspecting her of being involved in drug trafficking.  “I reported the drug trafficking crime myself and assisted with detecting the real committer of the crime,” Lutfinisso Muhammadiyeva noted in her letter.  

Moreover, over four months that she has been held in the detention facilities, investigator has not met with her and nobody has testified against her, according to the letter.