Murdered Journalists of Central Asia, update

I wouldn’t have been able to compile this list without researching the exhaustive work of the CPJ, the Committee to Protect Journalists.  Most of the photographs you see come courtesy of Memorium’s section on journalists.  Memorium is perhaps the single most powerful NGO to come up from a grassroots movement in the former Soviet Union, and was originally founded to collect data on the oppressed of the Stalin regime.

This update covers Tajikistan exclusively, though it is by no means a complete list.  I will be devoting a percentage of my free time to this project over the semester, and my goal is for Registan to have a fairly comprehensive list of those journalists that have been silenced by their own governments or factions in power.

And don’t forget the other murdered journalists of Central Asia, either. May they rest in peace.

Tajikistan (38)

[no picture]	N. I. Matrosov, 02/12/90, killed by sniper fire during a protest while filming the event from his second floor hotel room.  In the same incident, a woman was killed when standing behind her photojournalist brother also covering the event.
	Khushvaht Muborakshoev, December 1992.  A Pamiri television reporter, reportedly killed at an unknown location by members of the People’s Front.
	Murodullo Sheraliev, 5/5/92. Editor-in-chief Sheraliev was killed by automatic weapon fire while he was performing professional duties in the Tajikistan Supreme Soviet building in Dushanbe, according to the Union of Journalists of Tajikistan.
	Shirindzhon Amirdzhonov and Olim Zarobekov, 5/7/92.  Correspondent Amirdzhonov and department head Zarobekov were killed by automatic weapon fire at the republic’s Radio House in Dushanbe while they were performing professional duties, according to the Journalists’ Union of Tajikistan.
	Tura Kobilov, June 1992.  Editor Kobilov was taken hostage in the Bokhtar region by unidentified captors and shot and killed while carrying out his professional duties, according to the Union of Journalists of Tajikistan.
	Arkadi Ruderman, September 1992.  Belarussian documentary filmmaker and journalist from Minsk, he was working for Russia’s television station Channel 1.  He was killed while on assignment in September 1992. The circumstances of his death are not known.
	Tavakkal Faizulloev, 11/17/92.  Correspondent Faizulloev, with the Yovon District newspaper in Khatlon,was killed in retaliation for writing anti-Islamic articles.
[no picture]	Mukhtor Bugdiev, December 1992.  Photojournalist Bugdiev was killed in December 1992 in Dushanbe by members            of the People’s Front, according to local Tajik journalists.
[no picture]	Jamshed Davliyatmamatov, December 1992.  Correspondent Davliyatmamatov was murdered by members of the People’s Front.
	Filolisho Khilvatshoev, December 1992.  Journalist Khilvatshoev was killed by members of the People’s            Front, according to local members of the media.
[no picture]	Saidmurod Yerov, January 1993.  Executive editor Yerov was arrested by People’s Front members in January 1993. His body was reportedly found in a mass grave in Dushanbe on February 2.
[no picture]	Zukhuruddin Suyari,Correspondent Suyari’s body was found in Kurgan-Tiube at the end of March. It is suspected that members of the pro-government People’s may have killed him because he is from the Garm area.
	Pirimkul Sattori, 5/28/93.  Correspondent Sattori was arrested by unidentified persons in military uniform. Several days later, his body was found in a cotton field.
[no picture]	Saidjonol Fakhriddinov, June 1993.  Reporter Fakhriddinov, with the pro-Islamic, Tajik-language thrice-weekly Navidi Vakhsh, was murdered by the People’s Front, according to local journalists. Navidi Vakhsh was published in Khatlon Province, 100 miles south of Dushanbe.
[no picture]	Olimjon Yorasonov, June or July 1993.  Editor Yorasonov was murdered by members of the People’s Front,            according to local journalists.
[no picture]	Sharofuddin Kosimov, June or July 1993.  Reporter Kosimov was abducted in June or July 1993 by members of the People’s Front according to local journalists. His body was discovered in July and was subsequently identified by family members.
	Ahror Sharif, June or July 1993.  Editor Ahrorov may have been killed by one of several small paramilitary groups loosely affiliated with the People’s Front, according to several sources.
	Zikrullo Valiev, Summer 1993.  Reporter Valiev with the Uzbek-language Khalqi Ovozi, was killed in the summer of 1993. An armed band loyal to the Tajik government may have killed him.
[no picture]	Tohir Azimov, 7/1/93.  Reporter Azimov disappeared in June or July 1993. Tajik opposition sources in Russia and the United States say he was killed by one of several small paramilitary groups loosely affiliated with the People’s Front.
[no picture]	Emma Podobed, missing since September 1993.  Reporter Podobed disappeared and is believed dead.
[no picture]	Kishvaroy Sharifova, 10/1/93.  Reporter Sharifova disappeared in the fall of 1993. It is believed that members of the People’s Front were responsible for the deaths of other Navidi Vakhsh employees.
	Tabarali Saidaliev, 10/21/93.  Editor Saidaliev was kidnapped on October 21, and his body was found three days later in a cotton field. The men who kidnapped him were dressed like government security agents.
	Olim Abdulov, 5/15/94.  Abdulov was shot and killed by unknown persons near Dushanbe.
	Khushvakht Haydarsho, 5/18/94.  Haydarsho, secretary of the editorial board of the Tajik-language government newspaper Jumhuriyat, was shot dead near his home in Dushanbe. Local journalists believe his murder is connected to a series of articles he published on the mafia in Tajikistan.
	Davlatali Rakhmonaliev, 8/18/94. Rakhmonaliev, director of programming at Tajikistan State Television, was fatally shot in front of his home in Dushanbe. He reportedly had close ties to the pro-Communist government.
	Hamidjon Hakimov, 11/18/94.  Editor Khakimov was shot in the head in Dushanbe and died overnight. He was a prominent member of Tajikistan’s Uzbek minority.
	Muhiddin Olimpur, 12/12/95.  Olimpur, head of the BBC’s Persian Service bureau in Tajikistan, was found dead near the University of Tajikistan in Dushanbe with a gunshot wound to his head. Nothing had been stolen from him, even though he was wearing a gold ring and carrying several documents.
	Muhammadsharif Holov, 11/16/95. Freelance journalist and playwright, killed by unknown masked man, shot with an automatic rifle in his own apartment.
	Pochohona Sayfiddinov, 9/29/95.  Newspaper correspondent whose brutalized body was found dumped in the Vakhsh River.
	Muhammadmuslih Nadzhibulloev, 7/4/95. Freelance writer, journalism student, only 21 when found stabbed to death by unknown assailants.
	Zayniddin Muhiddinov, 3/14/95. Former editor of newspaper Hakikat, shot dead by unidentified men in camouflage uniforms.
	Viktor Nikulin, 3/28/96. Russian correspondent for Russian Public Television (ORT).  Fatally shot at the door to his office the week after receiving three threatening phone calls.
	Otakhon Latifi, 9/22/98. Opposition politician and journalist, shot at point blank range outside his apartment in Dushanbe.
	Meirkhaim Gavrielov, 6/8/98. Bukharan Jewish leader and journalist, found strangled in his home.
[no picture]	Jumakhon Khotami, 7/5/99. Chief spokesperson for the Interior Ministry, anchor of a weekly TV program chronicling drug trafficking and corruption.  Assassinated in Dushanbe after publicly revealing the names of drug bosses.
	Iskandar Khatloni, 9/21/00. Moscow-based RFE/RL Tajik Service correspondent, attacked in his apartment by an unknown assailant weilding an axe.  He died that night from wounds sustained in the attack.
[no picture]	Aleksandr Alpatov, 9/1/00.  Photographer for the Khovar Information Agency, his body was found not far from his home.  Authorities reported he had been killed by a handgun equipped with a silencer.

This post was written by...

Michael Hancock-Parmer – author of 158 posts on Registan.net.

Michael earned an MA in Central Eurasian Studies in 2011 and remains a student at Indiana University pursuing a dual PhD in Russian History and Central Eurasian Studies. He served 6 months in the Peace Corps in Uzbekistan in 2005. After the events in Andijan and the subsequent closure of the program, he served 2 years in southern Kazakhstan, returning to the Midwest in 2007. His general area of interest is on post-Timur Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, centered on the Syr Darya river valley.

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