last contacted his family in October 2022. At that time, he had already been serving a sentence in Russia for a year and a half on charges of drug trafficking.
In 2019, he, like hundreds of young Tajiks, left to work in Moscow. Zulfikor was going to earn money, return to Tajikistan and start a family. But then there was a trial and a sentence of 6 years in prison.
One of his relatives told CABAR.asia that during the first year and a half of his imprisonment, Zulfikor talked to his family on the phone every month.
“He always said that he should serve his term as soon as possible and return to Tajikistan. Since he was the only son in the family, his parents dreamed of marrying their son after his return, ”said the source, who wished to remain anonymous.
In that last telephone conversation with the family, Zulfikor said that they wanted to send him and other prisoners by force to fight in Ukraine. He didn’t get in touch anymore. And four months later, his parents received a call from Russia and were informed that their son had been killed in the city of Bakhmut in Ukraine, and his body would be sent to Tajikistan.
On January 22, the body of Zulfikor Mukhiddinov was interred in his native village of Yakkatut in the city of Gissar, 50 kilometers from Dushanbe.
At the start of Russia’s attack on Ukraine, the Tajik authorities warned their citizens to refrain from participating in foreign wars. According to the authorities, in case of participation in foreign wars, its citizens will be prosecuted on the basis of the Criminal Code. However, it is not known whether even a single citizen of Tajikistan was held accountable a year after the war between Russia and Ukraine. Officials did not say anything about this.
According to Radio Ozodi, the deaths of six more Tajik citizens who were imprisoned in Russia but killed in Ukraine have been confirmed.
One of them is 39-year-old Maksad Kurbanov , a resident of the Rudaki district. He, like Zulfikor Mukhiddinov, was killed during clashes in the Ukrainian town of Bakhmut, and his body was taken to Tajikistan on 6 February.
He went to prison in Russia eight years ago and was due to be released in the coming months. Faizullo Kurbanov , Maksad Kurbanov’s father, told CABAR.asia that the last time his son called was last October and said that they would be taken to the city of Mariupol.
“When I asked him if you were being taken of your own free will or forcibly, my son said that 160 prisoners were separated and they would be forcibly taken to Mariupol,” said Faizullo Kurbanov.
According to Tajik human rights activists who protect the rights of migrants in Russia, the majority of Tajik citizens serving time in the Russian Federation were taken to Ukraine in September last year after the announcement of mobilization.
In December 2022 and January 2023, the bodies of three more Tajiks who died in Ukraine were transferred to their homeland. According to their relatives, 47-year-old Shamsiddin Kadyrov , 22-year-old Boboaziz Turdiev and 28-year-old Manuchehr Shodov were taken from Russian prisons to Ukraine after September last year.
All of them were serving sentences for drug-related crimes.
Relatives of Zulfikar Mukhiddinov and Maksad Kurbanov told CABAR.asia that the people who called them and reported the death of their children introduced themselves as members of the Wagner group.The so -called private military company (PMC) Wagner is known for its extensive recruitment of Russian prison inmates for the war in Ukraine.
How many Tajik prisoners were taken to the war in Ukraine? At present, there is no official data on the number of Tajik citizens who are currently being held in pre-trial detention centers and prisons in Russia. According to media reports , in 2020 there were about 10 thousand citizens of Tajikistan in these institutions. It is also unknown how many of them were taken to Ukraine. Officially, the Tajik authorities do not talk about this.
On November 29, 2022, the Consul General of Tajikistan in Yekaterinburg, Zafar Saidzoda , told Radio Ozodi that he had visited several Russian pre-trial detention centers in July and September, but had not received “any complaints or precise information” on the issue of sending Tajik citizens to Ukraine.The Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to requests from CABAR.asia journalists. However, at a February 13 press conference, Shukhrat Akhmadzoda, a spokesman for the Tajik Ministry of Labour, Migration and Employment in Russia, said that “there were no official requests” to send Tajik migrants, including prisoners, to the war in Ukraine.
“Of course, the citizens who were mobilized from places of deprivation of liberty to Ukraine gave their personal consent and were mobilized there in accordance with Russian law,” Ahmadzoda added.
But relatives of prisoners say otherwise. In particular, Faizullo Kurbanov, the father of Kuktar Kurbanov, one of the murdered prisoners, says that his son said at the end of the conversation that they were being forcibly taken to Ukraine.
According to indirect data cited by the media, it can be assumed that after September, hundreds of prisoners were taken from Russian prisons to Ukraine. According to the Mediazona website , in September and October 2022, the number of prisoners in Russian prisons decreased by 23 thousand people.
“There have never been such sharp jumps since 2010: even the most massive amnesty in recent years freed a smaller number of Russians in such a short time,” writes Mediazona.
The increase in news about the deaths of Tajik prisoners in Ukraine has worried the relatives of people in Tajikistan whose loved ones are imprisoned in Russia. Some of them say they have not been able to contact their loved ones in Russian prisons for several months.
In January of this year, Shakhnoza Turaeva told the Asia-Plus news agency that she had not heard from her husband, who was in a Russian prison, for three months.
“The last time we talked was November 9th. In exchange for freedom and big money, he was offered to go to war in Ukraine. I said: “Don’t go, there’s only a little time left, God willing, you’ll be released.” He agreed with my words. But for three months now, there has been no news from him. Although before that, once or twice a month, he called from prison and reported on his condition, ”
Tajik human rights activist Karim john Yorov says he is constantly on the phone with Tajik prisoners in Russia. According to him, representatives of the Wagner group travel to prisons and promise prisoners freedom if they go to war in Ukraine.
“There are cases when prisoners are forced to go to Ukraine. I know three Tajik prisoners who were pressured and forced to go to Ukraine, but they refused,” says Yorov.
According to him, these people were influential among the prisoners and, if they had left, several other prisoners would have followed them.
“But, according to the information we have, most of the prisoners, believing in the promises of an early release, agree to go to Ukraine, since they are sentenced to long terms of imprisonment,” says Karimjon Yorov.
At the same time, he notes that the “Wagnerites” put forward the prisoners to the front lines.
“They are just “cannon fodder” who will be shot by Russian troops if they retreat, and if they go forward, the Ukrainians,” says the human rights activist.
source: cabar