Yakov Tsoi released from Afghan prison

DUSHANBE, February 7, 2012, Asia-Plus – Tajik national Yakov Tsoi was released from Afghan prison on February 6, the Tajik MFA information department reports.

“Yakov Tsoi is currently in the Tajik Embassy in Kabul and he will fly to Dushanbe on the very next flight,” the source said.

We will recall that Tajik citizens Hasan Otarayev, Shirinbek Iskandarov and Yakov Tsoi who had arrived in Afghanistan for doing business were detained by Afghan special services in the summer of 2008 on suspicion of spying for Tajikistan and Russia.

Shirinbek Iskandarov was released last June due to interference of the presidents of Tajikistan and Afghanistan, while 50-year-old national of Tajikistan, Hasan Otarayev, died in the Pul-e-Charkhi prison in October 2011.

According to Iskandarov, Otarayev had worked for one of construction companies in Dushanbe.  In an interview with the BBC, Iskandarov said that they had gone to Kabul for the purpose of establishing contacts with one of Afghan construction companies and he had accompanied Otarayev on that trip as interpreter.

Iskandarov said the Afghan special services had accused them of espionage and mercury smuggling and put them in prison without any trial.