DUSHANBE, February 6, 2012, Asia-Plus – The Tajik law enforcement authorities are trying to impede investigation into the murder of Safarali Sangov as two police officers are standing trial, Sangov’s relatives told Asia-Plus Monday afternoon.

An official source at the Prosecutor-General’s Office has confirmed that the Prosecutor-General’s Office on January 18 lodged a protest to the oversight board of the Supreme Court against the decision by a court in Dushanbe’s Sino district to remit the case over the death of  Safarali Sangov for further investigation.  The source refrained from giving further details.

The Supreme Court Judge Anvarjon Ahmadov is currently considering the protest lodged by the Prosecutor-General’s Office.

Relatives of Safarali Sangov say they are concerned that the Sino court’s decision to remit the case for additional inquiry will be annulled and smoother sentence will be passed on the defendants.

We will recall that the trial of two former police officers charged over the death of Safarali Sangov began on June 2, 2011.

Safarali Sangov died in hospital in March 2011 from severe injuries sustained in what his relatives say was a beating at a police station in Dushanbe''s Sino district.  Sangov''s relatives say several police participated in his arrest on March 1, suggesting that more than two police officers may have been involved in the beating that led to his death.

Police say Sangov committed suicide by jumping from a second-story set of stairs and, when he was then returned to an interrogation room, by repeatedly banging his head against a wall.

At the hearing on June 6, Prosecutor Zainiddin Jourayev announced that the defendants -- former policemen Abdurahmon Yoqubov and Qodir Hasanov -- have been officially charged with negligence that led to Sangov''s suicide. Both were dismissed from the police force after they were charged.

Jourayev said the policemen did not handcuff Sangov with his hands behind his back, as required by regulations, but with his hands in front of him. That, Jourayev continued, gave Sangov the opportunity to commit suicide as he was able to push away his police escort.

But relatives of Safarali Sangov insist that Sangov was severely beaten and that his death was not suicide, but murder.

Ms. Gulchehra Kholmatova, the defense lawyer of the injured party, noted in October 2011 that contradiction in witness statements made during the preliminary investigation has been revealed, and therefore, the defense solicited the judge to remit the case for further examination.

The judge ordered on September 14 to remit the case for further examination but a prosecution in the trial objected.   The oversight board of the Dushanbe city court has rejected the protest lodged by the prosecution and the Prosecutor-General’s Office lodged the protest against the decision made by the Sino court to the oversight board of the Supreme Court of Tajikistan.