Son of former Tajik OMON commander turned terrorist planned to follow in his father's footsteps - media
DUSHANBE. June 13 (Interfax) - The criminal case of Behruz Khalimov, 18-year-old son of former Tajik Interior Ministry OMON unit commander Gulmurod Khalimov who joined the ISIL terrorist group (banned in Russia), has been referred to court.
The defendant has been charged with plotting a crime and mercenarism, the Tajik media said referencing a source in the republican law enforcement agencies.
According to the detectives, Behruz Khalimov contacted his father's acquaintances on the social media and asked for their support in order to leave for Iraq and Syria and join ISIL but Tajik law enforcement officers took him off the Dushanbe-Moscow flight on April 17.
Radio Ozodi (Tajik service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's (RFE/RL)) said, for its part, that the suspect was detained in the house of his parents in the village of Darai Foni in the Varzob district of Tajikistan. A police source said he had a ticket to Moscow at the moment of the detention.
The kin of Behruz Khalimov said he stayed in the home village upon graduation from a general education school in order to help his mother and had no intention of going to Syria. "This is not true. My brother worked at the Kovron market after he had graduated from school. He shared his entire income with the family to cushion the effect of our father's absence," Behruz's sister Nilufar Khalimova said.
Former Tajik Interior Ministry OMON unit commander Gulmurod Khalimov was trained to fight terrorism by U.S. security services and had a long service record with the Tajik army.
In April 2015 Gulmurod Khalimov suddenly declared his affiliation to ISIL, where he became 'the defense minister'. A criminal case was opened against him in Tajikistan on the counts of high treason, affiliation to a criminal group, and illegal participation in armed conflicts or hostilities in foreign countries. He was stripped of the military rank and put on the wanted list in May 2015.
In September 2015 Khalimov was branded as a terrorist together with another 35 individuals and entities linked to ISIL and blacklisted by the United States. The U.S. authorities offered a $3-million reward for information about his whereabouts in 2016.
The Western media repeatedly reported the injury or even death of the former colonel in Iraq but only the injury reports were eventually confirmed.
The latest death claim was made in the middle of April but it was not confirmed either. Gulmurod Khalimov remains on Tajikistan's most wanted list.
