Interior ministry denies report that three persons have become victim of grenade blast in Dushanbe as baseless

Recall, the Interior Ministry’s website said on January 14 that a resident of Dushanbe has been killed after a hand grenade exploded in his arms.

Meanwhile, residents of Dushanbe say in social networks that two passerby were wounded in the grenade explosion as well.  

Nusratullo Mahmadzoda, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, has denied this information as baseless.

“It is just a rumor.  No one was injured in the explosion except Ivan Mezentsev.  The explosion occurred as a result of his careless handling of the grenade.  There was nobody near him during the explosion,” Mahmadzoda said.  

The incident took place in Dushanbe in the afternoon of January 14, at arounf4:30 pm.  The Interior Ministry’s website says it has been established that a 33-year-old resident of Dushanbe Ivan Mezentsev held the RGD-5 grenade at his home.   

On January 14, Mezentsev being in a state of drunkenness reportedly took the grenade with himself.  The grenade exploded in his arms when he was at the entrance of his house.  Mezentsev was rushed to hospital but he died of wounds sustained from the grenade blast. 

Criminal proceedings have been instituted over the incident and an investigation is under way.  

The RGD-5 is a post–World War II Soviet anti-personnel fragmentation grenade, designed in the early 1950s. The RGD-5 was accepted to service in 1954. It is still in service with many of Russia's former client states.