DUSHANBE -- Tajik authorities say a driver who is suspected of causing a fatal traffic accident in Dushanbe is an officer of the State Committee for National Security (KDAM).
In the statement on its website on August 10, the Interior Ministry said that a 24-year-old investigator with KDAM's Investigative Department, Odiljon Sharifov, was driving a Mercedes that hit two pedestrians, killing one of them, on July 30.
The statement identifying the suspect came 11 days after the accident.
Citizens of Tajikistan and several former Soviet republics have voiced anger over past incidents in which officials or their relatives have avoided prosecution or punishment despite being convicted or suspected of culpability in fatal accidents.
In 2013, after several high-profile crashes, Tajik authorities publicly acknowledged that reckless driving by children of the country's elite had been responsible for fatal road accidents.
The authorities then installed 850 closed-circuit video cameras across Dushanbe, the capital.
