Bloody events of Badakhshan.
The beginning of the peaceful rally and its causes.
Almost a year has passed since the bloody events of May 2022 in the center of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region in the city of Khorog, in which dozens of innocent people were killed and dozens more arrested and sent to jail.
On May 14, 2022, dozens of residents of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region gathered in the High Khorog microdistrict of the city of Khorog. Participants in this peaceful rally demanded that the authorities resign the head of the district, Alisher Mirzonabot, the head of the city of Khorog, Reza Nazarzoda, and a fair investigation into the events of November 2021.
On May 16, demonstrators headed to the city center to express dissatisfaction with the authorities, but on the way they were blocked by security forces, who used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd. As a result of this violent clash, three peaceful protesters were taken to the Aga Khan Center with bodily injuries.
However, the authorities, as always, ignored the demands of people seeking justice, who are legally entitled to free expression. In addition, this rally was declared illegal and the unofficial “leader” of Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region Muhammadbakir Muhammadbakirov was accused of organizing it.
From November 2021, the situation in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region remains unstable after the murder of a resident of Roshtkal Gulbiddin Ziyobekov and a four-day protest in Khorog. As a result, the protesters dispersed after the “Commission 44” (consisting of representatives of civil society) agreed with the government.
According to this agreement, the government should restore Internet access in Badakhshan, bring to justice those responsible for the murder of Gulbiddin Ziyobekov, and not prosecute the demonstrators. However, the authorities did not fulfill their promises and continued to arrest and harass the rally participants and members of Commission 44.
The Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region, after the suppression of free thought in the Kulab and Khujand region, as well as the Rashta Valley, the arrest and liquidation of influential free-thinking figures, remained the only region where the spirit of rebellion and resistance to the arbitrariness of the repressive and criminal government of Rakhmonov was still preserved. Rakhmonov and the authorities were afraid of this and made a plan to suppress free thought and eliminate the bold and free-thinking youth of Badakhshan.
Political movement “Group 24”
