VZCZCXRO4471
RR RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHLH RUEHLN RUEHPW RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHDBU #0907/01 1930829
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 110829Z JUL 08
FM AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0767
INFO RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE VIENNA AU
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 0127
RUCNCLS/SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC 0116
RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEABND/DEA HQ WASHINGTON DC
RUEAWJA/DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DUSHANBE 000907 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/CEN, INL/AAE (BUHLER) 
JUSTICE FOR DUCOT AND NEWCOMBE 
DEFENSE FOR KLUG 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: SNAR KCRM KJUS PGOV PREL RF TI
SUBJECT:  TAJIKISTAN: NARCOTICS, LAW ENFORCEMENT, AND JUSTICE SECTOR 
UPDATE, JUNE 2008 
 
REF: Dushanbe 395 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: Tajikistan's Drug Control Agency intends to move 
its Kazakhstan liaison office to Osh, Kyrgyzstan.  The Agency's 
annual counter-drug effort entitled "Poppy - 2008", is intercepting 
more marijuana than opium or heroin.  The Ministry of Internal 
Affairs Counter-Narcotics Department seized the first batch of 
precursor chemicals in 2008.  President Rahmon signed new laws 
strengthening citizens' access to information and strengthening the 
definition of terrorist activities to explicitly cover a number of 
illicit actions and bringing Tajikistan's laws into closer alignment 
with international obligations.  The Supreme Court sentenced three 
activists of the religious extremist organization, the Islamic Jihad 
Union (IJU), to long prison terms.  End Summary. 
 
 
-------------------------- 
INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENTS 
-------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) Tajikistan's Drug Control Agency intends to move its 
Kazakhstan liaison office to Osh, Kyrgyzstan to facilitate joint 
operations of the drug control agencies of the two countries against 
transnational drug-trafficking groups.  The Agency stated that the 
Tajikistani officer assigned to the Central Asian Regional 
Information and Coordination Center (CARICC) headquartered in Almaty 
can coordinate with other member states, including Kazakhstan.  The 
DCA office had operated in Kazakhstan since October 2004.  The 
Tajikistani counter-narcotics agency has liaison officers in four 
Afghan provinces bordering with Tajikistan - Badakhshan, Kunduz, 
Balkh, and Takhar. 
 
 
------------------------------ 
NARCOTICS AND WEAPONS SEIZURES 
------------------------------ 
 
¶3. (U) The Drug Control Agency's anti-drug operation, dubbed 
"Poppy-2008", is under way, but appears to mainly target marijuana. 
To date, Agency officers destroyed two acres of "Indian marijuana" 
plants on the Urunkhojayev Collective Farm in the Bobojon Gafurov 
district of Sugd Oblast in northern Tajikistan.  In the Sugdian city 
of Chkalovsk, the Agency destroyed over 9,600 bushes of "Indian 
hemp".  In the Darvoz district of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous 
Oblast, the agents destroyed "Indian marijuana" plants in Kurgovad. 
 
 
¶4. (SBU) At the Nizhniy Pyanj checkpoint between Tajikistan and 
Afghanistan, on June 20 Tajikistani Customs officers confiscated an 
18th century musket-pistol from a U.S. citizen traveling to 
Tajikistan from Afghanistan.  Customs officers found the pistol in 
the luggage of an American businessman working in Mazar-i Sharif, 
Afghanistan.  Press reports that the AmCit did not have export 
documents for the musket-pistol.  Reportedly the businessman 
purchased the pistol for the collection of his father.  Expert 
determined that the pistol was inoperable. Customs Officers 
confiscated the pistol and fined Mr. Port 350 somoni ($100). 
 
¶5. (U) Ministry of Internal Affairs Counter Narcotics Department 
officers seized more than 86 kilograms of raw opium in an operation 
in Dushanbe's Firdavsi district from a car belonging to Shuhrat 
Valiyev, a resident of Khatlon's Farkhor district.  Valiyev said 
that the drugs belong to Afghan national Mahmadsobit Valadi 
Abdughaffor. 
 
 
---------- 
PRECURSORS 
---------- 
 
Q 
¶6. (U) On June 20, officers from the Ministry of Interior Counter 
Narcotics Department detained two residents of Dushanbe on suspicion 
of illicit precursor trafficking.  Counter Narcotics Department 
officers seized 156 kilograms of acetic anhydride from a Mercedes 
car belonging to 52-year old Dushanbe resident Habibullo Karimov and 
also detained 53-year old Dushanbe resident, Ibrohim Aliqoyev. 
 
 
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DUSHANBE 00000907  002 OF 002 
 
 
CORRUPTION 
----------- 
 
¶7. (U) Officers from the Anti-Corruption Agency arrested Zainiddin 
Saifutdinov, former head of the Housing and Communal Services 
Directorate 8 in Dushanbe's Sino district, on suspicion of bribery. 
Anti-Corruption Agency charged Saifutdinov with having taken bribes 
totaling $34,100 from four local residents, promising to provide 
them with apartments.  He is charged under Article 247 (fraud) and 
Article 323 (service forgery) of Tajikistan's Criminal Code. 
 
¶8. (U) The Anti-Corruption Agency charged Hasan Almatov, an 
inspector with the Hissar Tax Inspectorate, with robbery and 
embezzlement, according to the Anti-Corruption Agency's press 
service.  Almatov accepted 10,000 somonies ($2,900) and some 
building materials from a local entrepreneur for issuing forged tax 
payment documents.  The Anti-Corruption Agency charged Almatov under 
Article 245 (embezzlement or misappropriation) and Article 323 
(service forgery) of Tajikistan's Criminal Code. 
 
 
---------------------------- 
JUDICIAL REFORM DEVELOPMENTS 
---------------------------- 
 
¶9. (SBU) President Rahmon signed a number of laws adopted by the 
Majlisi Namoyandagon (Tajikistan's lower chamber of parliament) and 
approved by the Majlisi Milli (Tajikistan's upper chamber of 
parliament).  Of particular note is the new law guaranteeing the 
"right of access to information," which provides a legal basis for 
citizens to obtain general (i.e., public) information and 
information about activities of government agencies.  Previously, 
civil groups could not point to concrete legal authority when 
requesting information from government ministries (including updates 
to the Tajikistani legal codes).  This law gives citizens a stronger 
legal basis for demanding government transparency.  Regulations 
implementing this law, including punishment for non-compliance, will 
be introduced shortly to the Civil and Administrative Codes.  (Note: 
The media community has expressed criticism of the new law, claiming 
that it in fact restricts the right to information, by imposing fees 
and bureaucratic procedures when applying for information to state 
structures.) 
 
¶10. (SBU) Other significant changes include amendments to 
Tajikistan's Criminal Code that expand the definition of terrorist 
activities to explicitly cover a number illicit actions, such as 
fund-raising for terrorists, illegal production of nuclear or 
radioactive materials, and crimes affecting airport security, that 
bring the definition more inline with international norms.  These 
changes emphasize President Rahmon's previous statements (reftel) 
calling for Tajikistan to update its laws in order to fulfill its 
international obligations. 
 
 
----------------------- 
SIGNIFICANT COURT CASES 
----------------------- 
 
 
¶11. (U) The Supreme Court sentenced three activists of the religious 
extremism organization, the Islamic Jihad Union (IJU) to extensive 
terms in prison.  The justices ruled that IJU activists Abdurahim 
Abdulloev, Zainiddin Nazruddinov, and Olim Buzurukov serve their 
sentences (nearly 20 years each) in a high-security penal colony. 
According to the public relations center of the State Committee for 
National Security (GKNB), the convicted men were members of the 
QNational Security (GKNB), the convicted men were members of the 
Taliban and actively participated in fighting in Afghanistan in the 
late 1990s and early 2000s and committed a number of serious crimes. 
 (Note: Tajikistan considers the Islamic Jihad Union (IJU), also 
known as Islamic Jihad Group (IJG), a terrorist organization.  It 
splintered from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) in 2002, 
and conducted several attacks in Uzbekistan. End note.)  According 
to the GKNB, the main goal of the IJU is to destabilize the social 
and political situation in the Central Asian region and create a 
theocratic state. 
 
 
HUSHEK