DUSHANBE -- The former chairman of Tajikistan's parliament, which was known as the Supreme Council until the early 1990s, has reportedly been detained on unspecified charges.
Several sources told RFE/RL on June 21 that Akbarshoh Iskandarov was summoned to the Prosecutor-General's Office for questioning on June 13 and 14 and has been held in custody since the second visit.
They added that about 50 people in total were summoned to the Prosecutor-General's Office at the time, all of whom were released but ordered not to leave Dushanbe.
Neither Tajik officials nor Iskandarov's relatives would comment on the situation.
The 73-year-old veteran politician briefly served as the acting president of the Central Asian nation in the wake of uprisings in the early 1990s that led to a devastating five-year civil war that started in 1992.
Recently, Iskandarov worked at the Tajik Science Academy's Institute of Philosophy, Political Sciences, and Law.
In the past, he served as Tajikistan's ambassador to Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and Turkmenistan.
RFE/RL's Tajik Service sent an official query to the Prosecutor-General's Office asking for comments regarding the case but did not receive a response.
A day earlier, several other sources told RFE/RL that Tajik authorities had detained former Foreign Minister Hamrohkhon Zarifi on unspecified charges last week.
One source close to law enforcement said Zarifi was suspected of financial crimes related to the construction of the Foreign Ministry's new building.
Zarifi served as the tightly controlled former Soviet republic’s foreign minister from 2006 to 2013. From 2015 until his retirement in 2018, Zarifi served as Tajikistan's ambassador to Japan.
Last week, investigators also arrested lawmaker Saidjafar Usmonzoda on a charge of "usurping power." No further explanation of the charge was given, and it remains unclear if the arrests are linked.
On June 14, Tajik Prosecutor-General Yusuf Rahmon publicly said that "Usmonzoda and other individuals" are suspected of attempted power seizure.
Rahmon did not specify who the "others" were.