Yaqub Salimov (Tajik: Яъқуб Салимов/Persian: یعقوب سلیموف) served as Minister of the Interior of Tajikistan from December 1993 to 1995
Career
Salimov, described as a 'mafia' figure by Olivier Roy, was allegedly involved in smuggling and racketeering during the Soviet era.[1] In 1990, Yaqub Salimov was convicted for taking part in the Dushanbe riots.[2] When the Tajikistani Civil War broke out, Salimov was released from prison, and became a leader of Popular Front, a paramilitary group fighting on the government side.[2][3] Salimov became a leader of the Kulabi faction, because his mafia was simply the expression of Kulabi solidarity networks, with access to arms and money, according to Olivier Roy.[1]
He was appointed Minister of Internal Affairs of Tajikistan in December 1993. In 1995 he was relieved of this post and was made Ambassador to Turkey.[4] In 1997, he was charged with attempting a coup d'etat. Afterwards, he fled from Tajikistan but was arrested in Moscow in 2003[2] and extradited to Tajikistan. On April 25, 2005, he received 15 years in prison sentence. Yaqub Salimov was released on June 21, 2016.[3]
References
- ^ a b Olivier Roy (October 2007). The New Central Asia: Geopolitics and the Birth of Nations. NYU Press. pp. 100–. ISBN 978-0-8147-7609-4.
- ^ a b c ГАФАРЛЫ, МЕХМАН (2004-02-25). На родину в наручниках Россия экстрадировала в Душанбе бывшего главу МВД Таджикистана Якуба Салимова (in Russian). Novye Izvestiya. Archived from the original on 2010-03-13. Retrieved 2008-10-23.
- ^ a b http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1058667.html
- ^ "Yakub Salimov has been operated in Moscow | Tajikistan News ASIA-Plus". Retrieved 2017-09-13.