DUSHANBE -- Tajik citizens who have gone to Syria and Iraq to fight as insurgents will face the full weight of the law, Tajik General Prosecutor Yusuf Rahmon told media in Dushanbe Thursday (August 3), according to Avesta.tj.
Authorities have opened criminal cases against those Tajik militants, he said, adding, "Ignorance of the law does not absolve a citizen of criminal liability ... There is no forgiveness for terrorists, nor can there be."
Authorities will exempt women and children from prosecution, he said.
That said, Tajik authorities have been offering amnesty for ex-militants who come back voluntarily. Recently, Interior Minister Ramazon Rakhimzoda said that more than 70 Tajiks who came back from Syria or the Turkish-Syrian border have been amnestied, though he did not give the time frame.
During the wars in Syria and Iraq, more than 1,000 Tajiks have joined the insurgents, according to various estimates. More than 300 of them are considered dead.
