Uznews, Nukus, 09 Aug 2008 – The Nukus police have completed the investigation into the case of journalist and human rights activist Salijon Abdurahmanov who is charged with drug dealing and will send all documents to the prosecutor’s office soon.
The Nukus town police department which investigated the case of Salijon Abdurahmanov, Uznews.net’s correspondent in Karakalpakstan, familiarised him and his lawyer with the criminal case and an indictment on 7 August.
According to the indictment, journalist Abdurahmanov is charged with attempting to commit crime under Article 25-273, Part 5 “illegal sale of drugs and psychotropic substances in large consignments” which may entail a prison term from 10 to 20 years.
The Nukus town prosecutor’s office will now decide Abdurahmanov’s case and may send it for an additional investigation if it thinks that the charges brought against the journalist and human rights activist are not proven or send it to court.
Bahrom Abdurahmanov, brother and lawyer of Salijon Abdurahmanov, believes that if the prosecutor’s office treats this case fairly and without bias, then even an inexperienced young lawyer will realise that the case has been trumped up.
The lawyer said that Abdurahmanov’s guilt had not been proven and many suspicions as how the drugs had ended up in his car had been ignored by the police. Police also ignored Abdurahmanov’s statement that he had become a victim of provocation for his journalistic and human rights activities.
“If Abdurahmanov is a drug dealer then where are his accomplices and where did he buy drugs to sell them? Was it his first attempt or had he been doing this for a long time?” the lawyer asks. “Why haven’t police taken fingerprints from my brother car or packets of drugs?”
The Nukus police found answers to these questions. Investigator Erkin Nurmashev, third person investigating Abdurahmanov’s case since he was arrested, has divided the investigation materials into two parts: the first says that Abdurahmanov’s guilt in drug dealing is proven and will be sent to the prosecutor’s office, while the second part will be investigated further.
“This means that the investigation is convinced of Abdurahmanov’s guilt and that all unclear things will be cleared later, while issues around the case will be investigated further to establish his accomplices,” the lawyer explained the investigation’s intentions.
Salijon Abdurahamanov himself, his lawyer said, was not surprised at police’s actions and attempts to trump up serious charges against him.
“Salijon knows that he was not arrested to be released soon. He is managing. He has not and is not admitting his guilt,” Bahrom Abdurahmanov said.
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