The Ministry of Labour, Migration and Employment of the Population of Tajikistan said that Tajik prisoners held in Russian prisons themselves expressed a desire to go to war in Ukraine, the Tajik service of Radio Liberty (Radio Ozodi) reports.
Shukhrat Akhmadzoda, head of the department for work with labor migrants of the Ministry of Labor of Tajikistan, said that “prisoners serving sentences were mobilized for war in Ukraine in accordance with Russian legislation and after obtaining their consent.” At the same time, the official did not disclose the number of Tajiks serving sentences in Russian colonies.
In my country blocked
present tense
Meanwhile, relatives and friends of the Tajiks killed in Ukraine – prisoners of Russian prisons – claim that they were forcibly sent to war.
Faizullo Kurbonov, the father of 39-year-old Maksad Kurbonov from the Rudaki region, who was serving a sentence in the Russian city of Arkhangelsk and died near Bakhmut, said his son was forcibly sent to war. The last time he spoke to his son on the phone was last October. “Maksad then said that he would be sent to work in Mariupol. I asked: voluntarily or involuntarily? He said that the prison authorities had compiled a list of more than 100 prisoners to be sent to Mariupol. If I don’t call, don’t worry, Maksad said. the last conversation,” Kurbonov clarified in an interview with Radio Ozodi.
There is no exact information about the citizens of Tajikistan who served time in Russia and were killed in the war in Ukraine. Radio Ozodi became aware of the deaths of ten Tajiks – prisoners of Russian colonies. The bodies of the six killed were sent to Tajikistan.
The authorities of Tajikistan do not comment on reports of the death of their citizens in Ukraine.
According to human rights activist Karimjon Yorov, out of about ten thousand Tajiks held in Russian prisons, one and a half thousand people can volunteer to go to war in Ukraine. Among those who, according to Yorov, may agree to voluntarily go to the front, are those serving life sentences or those who are in prison under Article 228 (in terms of drugs).
The human rights activist speaks about the Tajiks imprisoned in Russia who are fighting in Ukraine:
