Tajik authorities have publicly addressed for the first time the January 31 shooting at a detention facility in the northern city of Khujand.

The details were disclosed by Khabibullo Vokhidzoda during a press conference in Dushanbe, The Caspian Post reports, citing The Times of Central Asia.

Vokhidzoda confirmed that an armed confrontation took place at the Khujand pre-trial detention center. According to him, three prisoners attacked facility staff while in the exercise yard.

The prosecutor general stated that the inmates used “various objects” to inflict bodily harm on staff members and assaulted another prisoner who was present. He said they ignored repeated demands to cease their actions and resisted, posing what he described as a serious threat to employees’ lives. As a result, the three prisoners were “neutralized” by security personnel.

“While in the Khujand pre-trial detention center, in the exercise yard, they attacked the facility’s staff using various objects, causing them bodily harm and even beating another prisoner who was there. They ignored the staff’s demands to stop their actions and resisted, posing a serious threat to the lives of the facility’s employees. In this situation, they were neutralized by staff members responsible for the security of the correctional facility,” Vokhidzoda said.

He emphasized that no staff members were killed, although they sustained injuries. He did not specify the number of injured employees.

According to the prosecutor general, the three inmates had previously been sentenced to 12 to 14 years’ imprisonment for terrorist and extremist offenses. He added that they had repeatedly violated prison regulations, leading a court to impose stricter detention conditions.

At the time of the incident, the prisoners were being temporarily held in the Khujand facility pending transfer.

A criminal case has been opened under Articles 332 and 365 of Tajikistan’s Criminal Code. “How it happened, why it happened, who did it, all these questions will be clarified during the investigation,” Vokhidzoda said.

This marks the first official confirmation of the incident. Earlier, Radio Ozodi reported on the events, citing sources who claimed casualties among both guards and inmates. At the time, journalists’ attempts to obtain official comment were unsuccessful. The Minister of Justice, whose ministry oversees correctional institutions, declined to comment.

The January 31 incident is not the first serious episode of violence in Tajikistan’s penitentiary system, including in Khujand.

In November 2018, a large-scale riot erupted at maximum-security prison 3/3 in Khujand. According to official data, 21 prisoners were killed during efforts to restore order. Two prison staff members were also killed and five guards were seriously injured.

On February 3, 2025, unrest broke out at correctional facility No. 3/2 in the town of Vahdat, commonly known as “Kirpichny.” Official reports stated that three prisoners and three employees, including the prison director, were killed.

On May 19, 2019, another riot occurred at the same Vahdat facility. According to official information, 30 inmates armed with knives and other sharp objects seized three employees and killed them. Five prisoners were also killed. During the subsequent suppression of the riot, 29 inmates died. Among those killed was 18-year-old Bekhruz Khalimov, the son of former riot police commander Gulmurod Khalimov, who later joined ISIS.

Following that riot, the Supreme Court extended the sentences of 28 convicts found responsible for organizing the unrest.

Over the years, there have also been attempted prison escapes in Tajikistan. According to official accounts, most ended in failure, with organizers either killed or recaptured.