Prominent Tajik Man Jailed For Brutal Beating In Notorious Polygamy Case; Victim Dies The Next Day

DUSHANBE -- A court in Dushanbe has handed a prominent Tajik man a long prison sentence over the brutal beating of his alleged "second wife" in a case being closely watched by Tajiks.

The victim, 32-year-old Madina Mamadjonova, died in hospital on December 15, the day after the sentencing, relatives and a hospital doctor told RFE/RL.

Following a closed-door trial, the court sentenced Parviz Davlatov to eight years in prison on charges that included torture and polygamy, before reducing the prison term to 5 1/2 years under an amnesty law, according to local media reports.

Davlatov works for MegaFon, a major mobile-phone operator in Tajikistan, and is the son of a former lawmaker who has also served as an adviser to authoritarian President Emomali Rahmon.

He was arrested in early November along with his wife, Aziza Davlatova, who was also charged with attempted murder.

Davlatova's trial, also held behind closed doors, is still ongoing, the Supreme Court told RFE/RL.

Mamadjonova, a resident of Dushanbe, was hospitalized on August 26 "unconscious, with grave injuries," and apparent signs of strangulation, according to doctors.

She later woke up from her coma, but was still unable to talk or walk.

Sources close to both families described Mamadjonova as "the second wife" of Davlatov. Having a second wife is not uncommon in Tajikistan, despite polygamy being banned in the Central Asian country.

The case made headlines in Tajikistan, where the rich and powerful often evade justice, after prosecutors initially closed it without sending it to trial.

The decision backfired after women's rights activists took to social media to demand justice for the victim, sharing photos showing her horrific injuries.

Activists signed an open letter about the case to Rahmon's son, Rustam Emomali, who is mayor of Dushanbe, as well as to the prosecutor-general and the interior minister.

Suhrob Salimzoda, a deputy district prosecutor who had closed the case using a newly approved mass amnesty law, was dismissed from his post.

District police chief Zafar Ismoilzoda also lost his job, allegedly for mishandling the Mamadjonova investigation.

Davlatov's family is said to have high-placed political connections through his father, Davlatali Davlatzoda, a founder and the former first deputy chairman of President Rahmon's People's Democratic Party. He has held many other high-profile posts in Rahmon's government.