Tajikistan’s opposition leader shot dead in Turkey

A Tajik opposition politician Umarali Kuvvatov – the founder of the Group 24 opposition movement, an outspoken critic of Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon – was shot dead in Istanbul, on late Thursday, according to Haberler.com.

Kuvvatov, aged 47, was shot to death by an unknown assailant in İstanbul’s Fatih district at around 10:30 p.m. Umarali Kuvvatov was enjoying supper with a friend at a local café. He attacked in the street after leaving the café, the source reports.

Earlier Kuvvatov was detained by the authorities of the UAE and Turkey as the Tajik authorities requested his extradition. However, he was set free by the Abu-Dhabi and Ankara for insufficient evidences. Kuvvatov used to call himself the leader of the opposition movement Group-24, which, as he said, comprised many businesspersons and politicians of Tajikistan.

Before leaving Tajikistan, Kuvvatov had a business, owned private companies “Faroz” and “Tojiron” that were engaged in export of oil products to neighboring Afghanistan. After leaving Tajikistan, Kuvvatov often slammed the Tajik authorities on the Kazakh TV Channel K-Plus and Russian TVRain.