Monday, July 16, 2012 -
Security officers in Tajikistan said on Monday they arrested a suspect in the murder of a relative of President Emomali Rahmon.
Interior ministry officials told a press conference in the capital Dushanbe the suspect was detained on July 14, “during search operations in the investigation of the murder of 57-year-old Kholmumin Safarov,” the RIA Novosti news agency reported on Monday.
Safarov, husband of the president’s eldest sister, was found dead near his home in Dushanbe on June 13 with bullet wounds to his head, chest, and stomach.
Interior ministry officials said the arrest followed a lengthy undercover operation and that they are continuing a sweep for accomplices.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) news agency obtained a video showing law enforcement officers draining the Dushanbinka River, which runs through the capital, in their hunt for the gun.
The officials did not divulge any information about the suspect “in the interests of the investigation,” the independent local news agency Asia-Plus reported.
Neither did they say why the president’s brother-in-law was killed.
Safarov served as chief of the state-controlled forest and hunting agency, but unlike his relatives who own major companies and banks, he is not thought to have had significant business interests.