Meirkhaim Gavrielov (25 August 1927 – 9 June 1998) was a Bukharian Jewish journalist murdered in

Tajikistan Tajikistan, officially the Republic of Tajikistan, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Dushanbe is the capital city, capital and most populous city. Tajikistan borders Afghanistan to the Afghanistan–Tajikistan border, south, Uzbekistan to ...

Life

Meirkhaim Gavrielov was a prominent member of the Tajikistani

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for fifty years. Gavrielov was born in 1927 in

Samarkand Samarkand ( ; Uzbek language, Uzbek and Tajik language, Tajik: Самарқанд / Samarqand, ) is a city in southeastern Uzbekistan and among the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities in Central As ...

, Uzbekistan. He studied

philology Philology () is the study of language in Oral tradition, oral and writing, written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also de ...

at Samarkand State Pedagogical Institute. Gavrielov relocated to Tajikistan and in 1947 he began work as a writer and editor at the staff of the newspaper '' Tojikistoni Soveti'' (Тоджикистони Совети). From 1966 through 1974 he taught journalism in the Tajik Philology department of Tajik State University. From 1979 to his death Gavrielov held the position of editor-in-chief of the Tajik Agrarian University newspaper "Donish" (Дониш). Gavrielov excelled in his field and became a member of the Union of the Journalists of Tajikistan and Union of the Writers of Uzbekistan. He was published under the pseudonym Meir Khalabi (Мэир Халаби), and in the years before his death he wrote several books. In addition to his work as a journalist and author, Gavrielov was a leader of the Bukharian Jewish community in Dushanbe. He served as chairman of the Jewish Cultural Society, Khoverim (Ховерим), and was a member of the Jewish Section of the Writers Union of Tajikistan. At the time of his death Gavrielov was seventy years old and had survived the brutal 1992-1997 civil war in Tajikistan that ravaged the country. But Gavrielov’s profession was a dangerous one, as more than 60 journalists were killed in Tajikistan in the 1990s, and prominent individuals throughout the country were routinely assassinated.

Murder

At approximately 11:00 p.m. on 8 June 1998, unidentified persons entered the home of Gavrielov in

Dushanbe Dushanbe is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Tajikistan. , Dushanbe had a population of 1,564,700, with this population being largely Tajiks, Tajik. Until 1929, the city was known in Russian as Dyushambe, and from 1929 to 1961 as St ...

, beat him, and then strangled him to death with a metal wire. The killing was a shocking incident, but not uncommon in Tajikistan. Initially the Ministry of Internal Affairs reported Gavrielov’s death as a suicide and claimed that Gavrielov had suffocated himself with a pillow. Later the facts surrounding Gavrielov’s death emerged after international scrutiny of the killing. It is uncertain whether or not Gavrielov's Judaism had any connection to this death.

International reaction

Gavrielov’s murder aroused international condemnation and investigations from groups such as

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

and

Committee to Protect Journalists The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in New York City, with correspondents around the world. CPJ promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journalists. The '' American Journalism ...

. Glasnost Defense Foundation wrote an appeal addressed to President

Emomali Rahmonov Emomali Rahmon ( ; born 5 October 1952), born Emomali Sharipovich Rahmanov, is a Tajik politician who has served as the President of Tajikistan since 1994, having previously led the country as Chairman of the Supreme Assembly (Tajikistan), Su ...

to vigorously investigate Gavrielov killing and prosecute the murders. There was no reply. The perpetrators of Gavrielov’s murder remain anonymous and unpunished.

Works

Meirkhaim Gavielov wrote the following books: *Солхо ва кисматхо (Solho va Kismatho), 1994. *Андешахо, андешахо (Andeshaho, andeshaho), 1995. *Маресеви точик (Maresevi Tojik), 1995. *Гуломи илм (Ghulomi Ilm), 1995.

Resources

External links