DUSHANBE, 03.05.2021 (NIAT Khovar) – The General Prosecutor’s Office of Tajikistan has opened a criminal case against a group of Kyrgyz military personnel and citizens under Part 2 of Article 395 (unleashing or waging an aggressive war) and Part 2 of Article 104 (murder of two or more persons, including in connection with their performance of official activities, committed in a way dangerous to the lives of many people, by an organized group, out of selfish motives, as well as equally associated with robbery or banditry, on the basis of national, racial, religious, parochial hatred or enmity, or blood feud) of the Criminal Code.

On April 29 at approximately 11:00, a group of military personnel of the Kyrgyz border, accompanied by other Kyrgyz citizens, in total approximately 200 people, gathered in front of the border checkpoint Khojai Alo, located in Isfara, where Tajik engineers had installed video surveillance cameras.

Without inquiry, the aforementioned persons with the direct knowledge and participation of official authorities, namely the military personnel of the Border Guard Service of the Kyrgyz Republic, began to throw stones at Tajik citizens, at the same time cutting down the pole on which the cameras had been installed.

The provocation escalated into a riot initiated by the Border Guard Service of the Kyrgyz Republic.

In order to resolve the incident, Tajik law enforcement officers headed by the Chairman of Isfara Bahovaddin Bahodurzoda arrived at the scene. Fully aware of their official status, Kyrgyz military personnel and citizens opened fire from automatic firearms. As a result of this armed attack, Bahodurzoda and other law enforcement officers, as well as local residents, were seriously injured.

With reinforcement of an even larger number of armed military personnel and the local population, Kygyz Border Guard Service personnel carried out attacks on the local population, infrastructure facilities, and border points of Tajikistan, thereby violating the integrity and sovereignty of Tajikistan, aiming to seize territory, and damage private and state property.

As a result of this armed attack, several people have been killed, dozens have been injured, and a large number of houses, border posts and other structures and infrastructure have been burned. Huge material damage has been inflicted on citizens and the state.

The use of armed force by a state against the sovereignty, territorial inviolability and political independence of another state is an act of aggression.

An investigative-operational group has been created and an investigation is underway.