The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office granted Tajikistan’s request for the extradition of Yusuf Salikhov, who is accused of a massacre that took place in the village of Kalininabad (renamed Sarband in 1996 and Levakant in 2018) back in the early 1990s. After committing the crime, the man was hiding in Russia, the press service of the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation reported.
The department explained that in Tajikistan a criminal case was opened against Salikhov for the murder of 22 people.
According to investigators, on October 14, 1992, Salikhov, together with his accomplices, entered a private house in order to steal property and shot the family living there with a machine gun. The perpetrators doused the bodies of the victims with gasoline and set them on fire.
“Two of the victims managed to survive. From the scene of the crime, the accomplices fled in the cars of the victims. Subsequently, Salikhov left the territory of the Republic of Tajikistan and for a long time was hiding from justice in the territory of the Russian Federation, ”the Prosecutor General’s Office said in a statement.
In March last year, the court of the city of Bokhtar (formerly Kurgan-Tyube) allowed Salikhov to be taken into custody, he was put on the wanted list. After the arrest, the Russian side granted the request of the General Prosecutor’s Office of Tajikistan for extradition.
“Salikhov’s actions are punishable under Russian criminal law. The issue of applying the statute of limitations for the specified crime is decided by the court, ”the supervisory authority of the Russian Federation noted.
The extradition decision has entered into force, the Federal Penitentiary Service has been instructed to transfer the accused.
It is not known why such a brutal crime, committed 30 years ago, only recently became the subject of close attention of the law enforcement system. It is worth noting that during the period when it happened, a civil war was taking place in Tajikistan, and atrocious crimes were committed in various regions of the country by criminal gangs or armed groups acting on one side or another of the conflict.
Source: Fergana Agency
