A Russian soldier, who was convicted of killing a 22-year-old Tajik woman at a Russian military base near Dushanbe, has been sentenced to 12 years in prison, his defense lawyer and the victim's family said on July 28.
Ivan Sherbakov, 27, was also ordered to pay 1.5 million rubles (about $22,500) to the family of the victim as compensation, they said.
The lawyer, who didn’t want to disclose his name, said Sherbakov was found guilty of the premeditated murder of Shoira Jabborova in a trial by a Russian military court.
The three-day trial that began on July 19 was held behind closed doors inside the Russian military base near Dushanbe, he added.
Navruz Sultonov, a relative of the victim, said Jabborova's family is satisfied with the court ruling. Sultonov said he attended the trial along with the victim's mother and sister.
Sherbakov was stationed at the base when he was arrested in connection with Jabborova's killing in November 2015.
Jabborova was reportedly invited by Sherbakov, a lieutenant, to an officer's dormitory on the base where she was found dead on November 5. Her body was found in a garbage can.
The murder sparked widespread condemnations in Tajikistan.The Tajik government protested the killing in a diplomatic note and demanded that Moscow "take the necessary measures to ensure similar actions by servicemen at the Russian military base" do not occur.
In August 2015, two Russian soldiers at the same base were sentenced to prison sentences of 17 and 13 years by a Russian military court for murdering a Tajik taxi driver in Dushanbe in 2014.
