Wikipedia: Umarali Kuvvatov

The English-language Wikipedia article “Umarali Kuvvatov” covers the Tajik businessman and politician (21 November 1968 – 5 March 2015), leader of the opposition Group 24, who was shot dead in Istanbul. The article states Kuvvatov was born in Dushanbe, grew up in an orphanage after both parents died, and studied economics at Tajik National University. According to the article, as a businessman he was involved in market research and strategic management and was responsible for building an oil pipeline from Tajikistan to Afghanistan; at one point he worked for an oil-trading business of a close relative of Tajikistani President Emomali Rahmon, and they later fell out over business differences. The article states Kuvvatov was a critic of President Rahmon, accusing him of nepotism and corruption, and founded the opposition Group 24 after going into exile in 2012. According to the article, in October 2014 he called via social media for a political protest on 10 October at Dousti Square in Dushanbe; no one showed up after authorities blocked hundreds of websites and deployed armoured vehicles, and the Supreme Court of Tajikistan subsequently ruled Group 24 an extremist movement and banned its publications. The article states the Social Democratic Party and Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan distanced themselves from him; between October 2014 and March 2015 Tajik authorities arrested and sentenced several associates of Kuvvatov or Group 24, including Umedjon Solehov who was sentenced to 17.5 years in early March 2015. According to the article, Kuvvatov went into exile first to Russia and then the UAE; he was arrested in Dubai in September 2012 at Tajikistan’s behest and released in September 2013 after a pardon. He then went to Turkey where he was arrested on 20 December 2014 on an alleged visa violation; Tajikistan sought his extradition for extremism, economic crimes and hostage-taking in January 2015, but Turkey refused. The article states that according to Turkish media, conspirators planned the murder for three months: on the night of 5 March 2015 in Istanbul they first tried to poison him at a dinner at the house of Sulaimon Qayumov, a 30-year-old Tajik citizen; after Kuvvatov and his family fell ill and rushed outside for fresh air, an unidentified Tajik-speaking man shot him in the head in the Fatih district around 22:30. Turkish authorities arrested three Tajik nationals, and on 26 February 2016 the Istanbul Criminal Court sentenced Kayumov to life imprisonment. Sources cited: RFE/RL, Reuters, Channel NewsAsia, BBC News, Belsat TV, Hürriyet Daily News, Eurasianet, Freedom House, Asia-Plus, Fergana, Radio Ozodi, Association for Human Rights in Central Asia.