Tajikistan’s foreign minister on April 12 condemned the treatment of the mostly Tajik suspects in last month’s terrorist attack on a Moscow-area concert hall that killed more than 140 people, RFE/RL’s Tajik Service reported.
Foreign Minister Sirojiddin Muhriddin, speaking in Minsk at a meeting of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), also criticized what he said was a media campaign to slander Tajiks.
After the attack on Crocus City Hall on March 22, several Tajiks were arrested and showed signs of abuse when they appeared in Basmanny District Court in Moscow. The four accused gunmen had bruised and swollen faces and showed other signs of having been severely beaten. There were unconfirmed reports that one of them had his ear cut off during his arrest.
“The use of torture in the form of bodily mutilation is unacceptable,” Muhriddin was quoted as saying on April 12. “The price of confessions extracted in this way is well known to everyone.”
Muhriddin said that Russian security authorities should respect the rights of the Tajik suspects and adhere to the principles and norms of international law in their investigations into the massacre, especially regarding the presumption of innocence, the prohibition of torture, and ill-treatment of detainees.
In addition, Muhriddin condemned the surge of xenophobia in Russia after the attack, saying that as a result of an “ill-conceived information campaign” a “negative perception is being formed toward citizens of Tajikistan and Tajiks.”
Of the 11 men in custody, 10 are Tajik; one is reported to be a Kyrgyz-born Uzbek man who has Russian citizenship.
Some experts and Tajiks living in Russia had previously criticized Tajik authorities for not speaking out about the rights of Tajik citizens and choosing to remain silent in the face of torture of suspects and mistreatment of Tajiks.
The attack was Russia’s worst terrorist attack in two decades. Responsibility was claimed by an offshoot of the Islamic State extremist group.
