Failed assassination attempt sparks speculations of power struggle in Uzbekistan
It is getting harder to keep things behind the scenes
Originally published on Global Voices
Komil Allamjonov (on the left) and Saida Mirziyoyeva (on the right). Screenshot from the video “Allamjonov bilan Otabek Umarov hamda DXX o’rtasida urush ketyapti-manbalar” from the Ozodlik Radiosi YouTube channel. Fair use.
On October 26, an assassination attempt was carried out against the former top-level official Komil Allamjonov in Uzbekistan’s capital Tashkent. A pair of suspects fired eight bullets at Allamjonov’s car at night. Neither Allamjonov nor his driver sustained any injuries. Undoubtedly, this was the most significant assassination attempt in Uzbekistan’s recent history given Allamjonov’s stature and influence over the country’s political life.
The timing of the incident stirred discussions of a possible power struggle unfolding among different groups close to President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, to solidify their position as his future successor. Allamjonov abruptly left the president’s office, where he led the department of informational policy, only a month before the attack.
His sudden departure sparked speculations that it would weaken the position of the president’s oldest daughter Saida Mirziyoyeva, head of the presidential office, and seemingly a frontrunner in the successor race. Allamjonov and Mirziyoyeva have worked together in tandem at various state organizations for the last eight years.
Adding to the suspense has been the absence of any comments on the assassination attempt from the authorities and Allamjonov himself. Even the statement from the Prosecutor General’s Office on the incident did not contain any mention of Allamjonov, it simply informed journalists of the shooting. The office has publicly discouraged journalists and bloggers from speculations. Nevertheless, the attack has become the most talked about news, resembling a detective series with new information rolling out every day.
Here is a YouTube video with the first part of Radio Ozodlik's investigation.
On October 27, a video emerged with two men admitting carrying out the attack and sharing plans to give themselves up to the police. Additionally, there emerged an audio file in which undisclosed people claimed that Allamjonov orchestrated the assassination attempt but did not pay those who executed it.
This was followed by a wave of posts on Uzbek social media that Allamjonov did indeed plan the attack himself. According to Radio Ozodlik (the Uzbek branch of RFE/RL), bloggers and journalists who spread these rumors admitted receiving directives from their “media supervisors,” who in turn acted on the orders from the security services. Radio Ozodlik’s investigation on the case remains the most comprehensive and credible coverage of the incident thus far.
After the journalists identified one of the attackers as Shohruh Ahmedov and established his ties to the president of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov, the story gained a foreign angle. While in Turkey, Ahmedov was detained by the Turkish police alongside a group of Chechen nationals for attempting to assassinate one of Kadyrov's critics in Istanbul. When these details came out with a hint of a Chechen trace, Kadyrov came out with a statement denying speculations of his involvement in the attack.
The most recent piece of the puzzle now directs towards Mirziyoyev’s son-in-law and deputy head of the presidential security service Otabek Umarov, who is married to the president’s younger daughter Shakhnoza Mirziyoyeva. On November 14, an Uzbek national named Javlon Yunusov was arrested in South Korea in relation to his involvement in the attack.
Here is YouTube video with the second part of Radio Ozodlik's investigation.
Interestingly, Akhmedov, one of the detained attackers, worked as Yunusov’s bodyguard and driver. Additionally, the car in which the attackers fled from the crime scene was found near the restaurant belonging to Natalya Fen, Yunusov’s wife.
Radio Ozodlik’s sources have previously described Yunusov as Umarov’s trusted right hand man in the Fergana Valley, a vast region in Uzbekistan’s east. This link has now brought president’s son-in-law under the limelight of speculations. The reports of an ongoing “war” between Allamjonov and Umarov are only fueling them.
It is too soon to draw any conclusions about who ordered the attack on Allamjonov. It is reported that the case is under the personal control of Mirziyoyev. However, even when the investigation is completed it is likely that its results will be kept from the public. After all, this seems like a family affair nobody would want to share.