QURGHON TEPPA, June 25, 2013, Asia-Plus -- The Khatlon regional court has upheld the Qurghon Teppa city court’s verdict against former chief of the drug squad at the Interior Ministry’s office for Qurghon Teppa, Shodibek Sultonov.

We will recall that the Qurghon Teppa city court sentenced Shodibek Sultonov to 16 years in prison on April 26, 2013.  The sentence followed his conviction on the charges of exceeding authorities (Article 316 (4) of Tajikistan’s Penal Code) and extortion (Article 250 (4) of Tajikistan’s Penal Code).

Shodibek Sultonov was arrested by anticorruption officers in November, 2012 on suspicion of extortion.  The preliminary investigation has reportedly established that Sultonov together with two other police officers and one civilian detained three labor migrants last November, accused them of theft and extorted 350,000 euros from them for not instituting criminal proceedings against them.

Sultonov’s three accomplices, who had been fugitives, were also detained and an investigation into their case is still under way.