TAJIKISTAN: FEBRUARY - APRIL 2009 LAW ENFORCEMENT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 DUSHANBE 000530 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR SCA/CEN (HUSHEK) INL/AAE (BUHLER) JUSTICE FOR (DUCOT AND NEWCOMBE) DEFENSE FOR OSD/P E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV SNAR KCRM KJUS PINR TI SUBJECT: TAJIKISTAN: FEBRUARY - APRIL 2009 LAW ENFORCEMENT DEVELOPMENTS REF: DUSHANBE 0130 DUSHANBE 00000530 001.2 OF 003 DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC//ICITAP ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Afghan drug traffickers killed two Drug Control Agency officers and wounded three Border Guards at the Tajik-Afghan border in Khatlon's Shurabad district. Border Guards killed six Afghan drug traffickers in Shurabad district. The Drug Control Agency reported early 2009 seizures were up 4.5 times over 2008. Law enforcement continues to make large seizures including 30 kilos of narcotics hidden in a cement truck; Border Guards seized four traffickers with 43 kilos of cannabis; GBAO Drug Control Agency officers seized 26.5 kilos of hashish in the Murgab district; and Ministry of Internal Affairs officers seized 40 kilos of marijuana in Shurabad. The Counter-Narcotics Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs burned over 500 tons of narcotics in April. The Ministry of Internal Affairs intercepted currency smugglers in northern Tajikistan. The new Minister of Internal Affairs shakes up police officials. A new Criminal Procedures Code will be approved soon. INL awards justice sector grants to eight non-governmental organizations. End summary. DRUG-RELATED ARMED CLASHES ¶2. During a February skirmish near the border village of Sari Mazor in southern Tajikistan 30 armed Afghan drug traffickers killed two agents of the U.S.-supported Drug Control Agency. Three border guards were seriously wounded. Officers found three sacks containing 60 kilograms of opiates. ¶3. As a result of another February skirmish between Border Guards and a group of armed Afghan drug traffickers near the border villages in Shurabad district, Border Guards killed six drug traffickers. There were reportedly no casualties among the Border Guards. Border Guards found more than 300 kilograms of various narcotics, four Kalashnikov sub-machine guns, and more than 450 rounds of ammunition at the scene. DRUGS SEIZED THROUGHOUT TAJIKISTAN ¶4. During February, Customs officers at the Nizhny Panj Bridge discovered 22 kilograms of heroin and 8 kilograms of raw opium hidden in the bags of cement arriving from Afghanistan. ¶5. Drug Control Agency officers seized nearly 99 kilos of narcotics in January and February, which is 4.5 times more than in the same period of last year. The total includes 29 kilograms of heroin, 13 kilograms of raw opium and 56 kilograms of marijuana. The Drug Control Agency opened 22 criminal cases against 24 persons. In cooperation with Border Guards, Drug Control Agency officers carried out one operation which led to the seizure of 65 kilograms of drugs. Working jointly with Kyrgyz counterparts, Drug Control Agency officers intercepted almost 65 kilograms of heroin. Over the same two-month period, officers from the Tajik Drug Control Agency carried out six operations in cooperation with Afghan police officers. The operations resulted in the seizure of over 52 kilograms of drugs. ¶6. In March the Border Guards seized two sacks containing 43 kilograms of cannabis at the Tajik-Afghan border in Gorno Badakhshan. On routine patrol, the Border Guards spotted and detained four Tajik nationals who were illegally crossing the border river in the area of the "Ishkashim" border post. ¶7. In March officers from the GBAO Drug Control Agency department discovered 26.5 kilograms of hashish and one sub-machine-gun Kalashnikov in GBAO's Murgab district. ¶8. On March 31 police officers seized 40 kilograms of marijuana at the Tajik-Afghan border in Sarichashma in Khatlon's Shurabad district. ¶9. Over the first two months of this year, Tajik law enforcement agencies intercepted more than 800 kilograms of drugs. ¶10. On April 24 officers from the Counter-Narcotics Department, Ministry of Internal Affairs, burned more than 506 kilograms of narcotics at the Dushanbe plant, Tajiktekstilmash. A total included more than 79 kilograms of heroin, 119 kilograms of raw opium, and 307 kilograms of cannabis. Police officers DUSHANBE 00000530 002.2 OF 003 confiscated these drugs in the course of 2008-2009 and they were material evidence for 118 criminal proceedings. Under charges brought against the accused, police officers convicted 137 persons, including six Afghan nationals. CURRENCY SMUGGLING ¶11. On March 28 Ministry of Internal Affairs officers intercepted 7.3 million Russian rubles at the Khudjand airport in Sugd province. Officers detained the passenger, Taghoymurod Homidov, on a Khudjand-Moscow flight. The Ministry reported he was acting in collusion with a Customs officer from the Khudjand airport, Stepan Oleynikov, by not declaring the cash in his customs declaration. SHAKE UP IN THE MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS ¶12. The new Minister of Internal Affairs, Abdurahim Qahhorov, (reftel) replaced a number of police officials, installing his new team: 12A. Abdurahmon Buzmakov, former Deputy Chief of the Khatlon Police Directorate in charge of the Kulob region, is head of the Criminal Investigation Directorate within the Ministry of Internal Affairs, replacing Ismatullo Rasulov. 12B. Ramazan Rahimov, former Head of the Defense and Public Order Department within the President's Office, is the First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, replacing Rauf Yusupov. 12C. Colonel Farodbek Shodmonbekov, who had previously served as a Deputy Head of the Technical Operations Department within the Ministry of Internal Affairs, is a Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, replacing Abdujabbor Shamsov. 12D. Colonel Bukhoriyev, who had previously served as Chief of the Kanibadam Police Department, is a Head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Counter-Narcotics Department, replacing Abdul Roziqov. 12E. Lieutenant-General Sherali Sabzov, former Head of the Interpol Office in Tajikistan, is Head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Organized Crime Department. 12F. Iskandar Vakhobov, former Chief of the Vose Police Department, is Head of the Kulob Police Department, 12G. Rauf Yusupov, former Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, is Head of the Sugd Police Directorate. JUSTICE SECTOR REFORMS ¶13. In the end of March, the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA/ROLI),funded by INL, organized a two-day roundtable for judges, prosecutors, and parliamentarians, to discuss the new draft Criminal Procedure Code (CPC). The Council of Justice, responsible for administering the court system, requested the opportunity to discuss the CPC. ABA/ROLI brought in Nikolai Kovalev, a native of Kazakhstan, Doctor of Comparative Law and Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Canada to offer his opinions on the proposed amendments, comparing them to international legal standards. At the end of the roundtable, ABA representatives forwarded all recommendations to the official drafting group, the Parliament and the Presidential Administration. ¶14. Prior to the ABA/ROLI Roundtable, HELVETAS (funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation),organized a similar roundtable to discuss the CPC draft and supported a six-day retreat for the official drafting group and parliamentarians to complete the review process. We expect that the Tajik Government will adopt the new Code by July 1, 2009. ¶15. The proposed new Code transfers power of arrest and search warrant issuance from prosecutors to judges. To comply with the new Criminal Procedure Code requirement to separate the duties of the pre-trial judge and the judge proceeding over the case in court, the Tajik court system must recruit and train 30 additional judges. The Council of Justice recently requested ABA/ROLI's sponsorship in training the additional judges at the Judicial Training Center. The director of the Judicial Training Center, Kanoat Khamidova, told us that President Rahmon said DUSHANBE 00000530 003.2 OF 003 that the national budget was insufficient and requested each agency to work with international donors to fund appropriate activities. ¶16. In April Embassy Dushanbe's International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Section issued eight Justice Sector Reform grants totaling $295,000. The grant recipients will implement projects including provision of legal aid, court monitoring, minor's legal representation, third party arbitration, and legal education. ¶17. COMMENTS: We assess that Qahhorov's appointments of new senior leaders will lead to improvements in the professional operation of the Ministry. We already received commitments of continued cooperation from the Minister and his new First Deputy, General Rahimov. INL and other embassy offices have a good relationship Rahimov stemming from his previous position as a deputy minister. We view the (anticipated) adoption of new criminal procedure code as a significant step in the separation of powers between prosecutors and the courts. The wide initial discussion of the draft law is a welcomed development which we hope will result in the incorporation of suggested changes. JACOBSON