Suspect Arrested for Uzbek Émigré Attack
| Publisher | Institute for War and Peace Reporting |
| Publication Date | 16 October 2012 |
| Cite as | Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Suspect Arrested for Uzbek Émigré Attack, 16 October 2012, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/50865e5c2.html [accessed 21 May 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
The Russian authorities have arrested a man suspected of the attempted killing of a prominent Muslim cleric from Uzbekistan.
Yury Zhukovsky, 34, was picked up when Russia's FSB intelligence service tracked down a mobile phone identified by Swedish police as the same one used to coordinate the attack on Obidkhon Qori Nazarov in February.
Nazarov, 54, was shot near his home in the Swedish town of Stromsund, in an attack that observers linked to the authorities in Uzbekistan, where the cleric had been a focal point for Muslims opposed to state control of mosques. He and his family fled the country in 1998, and have lived as refugees in Sweden since 2006. (See Uzbek Islamic Leader Targeted by Hitman.)
The Swedish authorities are now pursuing extradition procedures so that they can question Zhukovsky, who they believe holds Uzbekistan as well as Russian citizenship.
In May, a married couple from Uzbekistan were arrested on suspicion of helping coordinate the attack, but a Swedish court ruled in July that there was insufficient evidence for a conviction. Prosecutors are appealing against that decision.
