Otakhon Latifi
 Otakhon Latifi    (journalist, politician) | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Отахон Латифӣ 18 March 1936 |
| Died | 22 September 1998 (Age 62) |
| Nationality | Tajikistan |
| Victim of | assassination |
Tajik Peace making politician. Assassinated in 1998 | |
Otakhon Latifi was a Tajik journalist and politician.
Activities
Otakhan Latifi was forced to leave his homeland as a result of the Tajik Civil War and lived and worked in the Russian Federation and the Islamic Republic of Iran for some time until 1997. He was the head of the Center for the Coordination of Democratic Forces in the Commonwealth of Independent States.
On August 4, 1994, Latifi was badly beaten outside his Moscow apartment, and key documents relating to the peace process were stolen.
Otakhon Latifi was one of the initiators of the Inter-Tajik Peace Talks and has made invaluable contributions to the restoration of peace and national reconciliation in Tajikistan. Following the signing of the Peace Agreement on 27 June 1997, Latifi returned to Dushanbe in September 1997 and served until his death as Chairman of the Legal Commission of the National Reconciliation Commission. Latifi chaired the subcommittee on legal issues.
On his return to Tajikistan in September 1997, Latifi chaired the panel for legal issues under the National Reconciliation Commission, a role which he continued until his death.
Assassination
On the morning of September 22, 1998, Otakhan Latifi was killed in the center of Dushanbe, near the KOM headquarters.
On September 22, 1998, at around 8am, Latifi was shot at point blank range outside his apartment in Dushanbe.[1]
His assassination sparked condemnation from both the government and opposition, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the non-government organization Human Rights Watch. His death was also mentioned in Time Magazine.
In January 1998, Ravshan Gafurov was captured by police, and promptly confessed to the assassination. On January 26, 1999, the Tajik Interior Ministry stated that one of Latifi's killers, Ravshan Ghafurov, had been shot while fleeing detention. On June 7, 2000, the Supreme Court sentenced Abdullo Tursunov, who had directly targeted Latifi, to 17 years in prison, and another murderer, Nozim Vohidov, was released on bail.
