Ex-Tajik premier detained in Ukraine does not ask for refugee status

13:27, 06.02.2013 1 min read

Former Tajik Prime Minister Abdumalik Abdullajanov, who was detained at Kyiv Boryspil International Airport, did not ask for the refugee status, the Ukrainian State Migration Service said.

"We did not receive any official requests," State Migration Service First Deputy Head Viktor Sheibut said in Kyiv on Wednesday.

Abdullajanov, 64, was the Tajik Prime Minister from September 1992 to 1993. He stepped down and was appointed as the Tajik Ambassador to Russia. In 1994, he took part in the first presidential election in Tajikistan. Official reports said he lost to Emomalii Rahmon, the incumbent chief of Tajikistan.

Abdullajanov left Tajikistan after the election and took residence in Russia. He moved to the United States in 1998.

Tajik authorities accused Abdullajanov of organizing an attempt upon the life of Rahmon on April 30, 1997. The president was injured in the leg. The ex-prime minister denied his culpability in interviews.