Tajikistan’s General Prosecutor’s Office came out on Friday, July 7, with new details about the kidnapping case of banker Shuhrat Ismatulloev. According to law enforcement bodies in Dushanbe, Saidmurodov Dilshod, the leader of the “organised criminal group”, drew up the plan to kidnap the banker in March 2022. The criminal organisation included more than ten people, including Rustam Ashurov, who shot dead a border policeman and a security inspector at Chisinau International Airport.

But at the time it was not possible to implement the kidnapping plan due to certain circumstances, says a statement from the Tajik Prosecutor General’s Office.

“On June 23, 2023, at 20:10, on Zakarié Rozi Street in Dushanbe, Saidmurodov, together with other members of the organized criminal group – Rustam Karimovich Ashurov, Shohrukh Hujayev, Akbar Akramovich Ahmedov and others, taking advantage of the opportunity, forcibly took Ismatulloyev S. A. in a black Hyundai Sonata with the registration number 01-97M01 and drove off in the direction of the village of Shodob-1.

On 24 June, at 03:00, in one of the houses in the village, they tortured Ismatulloyev using physical force, a taser and other means, and then killed him. Then, in order to hide the traces of the crime, the organized criminal group threw Ismatulloyev S.A.’s body and the car “Hyundai Sonata” into the Zarafshan River at km 130 of the Dushanbe-Chanak highway. On the same day, Saidmurodov D.H. and Akhmedov A.A. fled to the Russian Federation, Khujaev S.H. to the Republic of Turkey, and Ashurov R.K. fled to the Republic of Turkey on 25 June and then to the Republic of Moldova on 30 June.

Currently, five participants of the organised criminal group have been detained in this criminal case. In cooperation with law enforcement agencies in foreign countries, relevant measures are being taken to arrest and punish other criminals. The search for the body of Sh. Ismatulloyev’s body continues,” the statement added.

The 49-year-old banker Shuhrat Ismatulloyev is a close associate of Hasan Asadullozoda, the chairman of “Orienbank” (a Tajik bank) and brother-in-law of Tajik President Emomali Rahmon. The incident has created a great stir in society and led to a variety of assumptions and versions.

Armed attack at Chisinau airport

On Friday, June 30, an armed attack took place at the Chisinau airport. Unhappy that he was refused entry to Moldova, a man from Turkey, a citizen of Tajikistan, attacked the border policeman Serghei Muntean, took his gun and shot him. The attacker then shot another person, airport security employee Igor Ciofu. Both victims died. Law enforcement officers immediately intervened at the scene. Passengers were evacuated from the airport and flights were delayed. About an hour after the first shots were fired, the attacker was captured by employees of the Lightning Special Purpose Police Brigade. The Chisinau prosecutor’s office has opened a criminal case.

Rustam Ashurov is a citizen of Tajikistan who shot dead a border policeman and a security inspector at Chisinau International Airport. He was sentenced in November 2012 to 13 years in prison for armed robbery. According to sources of the Guard newspaper, in 2019 Ashurov was pardoned. Thousands of Tajik prisoners were released from the sanctions of the law that year.

“It’s okay, mom. See you on the other side!”

The Airport attacker spoke to his mother on the phone after killing border policeman Sergei Muntean and security inspector Igor Ciofu. Rustam Ashurov confessed to his mother that he had shot two people and said goodbye to her, asking her to look after his children. “It’s okay, mother. See you on the other side!” the airport attacker told his mother.

Some video footage of Rustam Ashurov’s mother talking on the phone to her son, who was at the time at the Chisinau International Airport after committing the crime, was published by ParvizTV, an Instagram page that broadcasts news from Tajikistan. Someone filmed his mother at the time of the two’s conversation, and a woman’s voice can also be heard in the background. According to unofficial unconfirmed information, the conversation took place in the presence of Tajik police, who also made the video.