Body of Tajik boy killed in Moscow school attack sent home for burial

The body of Kobiljon Aliyev, who was killed during an attack at a school in the Odintsovo district of the Moscow region, was sent to Tajikistan for burial.

According to Russian broadcaster RT, Moscow Region’s children’s ombudsman, Ksenia Mishonova, said the decision was made by the boy’s mother.

“That was his mother’s decision. He will be buried next to his father. Kobiljon in Turkic means ‘brave warrior’… Eternal memory to you, our little brave warrior,” Mishonova said.

According to Russian media reports, the attack was carried out by a 15-year-old student, identified as Timofey K., described as a neo-Nazi. When the boy’s homeroom teacher, Alina Faizullaeva, saw the teenager holding a knife in a school corridor, she rushed to usher the children from class 4D into a classroom to protect them.

Kobiljon Aliev decided to help save the other children. He reportedly said he would distract the attacker and ran toward the staircase. The ninth-grade student chased him, caught up with him on the stairs, and fatally stabbed him in the neck. After the attack, the assailant reportedly took a selfie next to the victim’s body.

Kobiljon Aliyev was the son of a cleaner employed at Uspenskaya Secondary School, located in the Gorki-2 settlement of the Odintsovo district. His mother, Nilufar Safoyeva, a 35-year-old citizen of Tajikistan, has another son who studied in the same class as the deceased. The family had been renting an apartment near the school. Following the tragedy, the boy’s mother and brother travelled to Tajikistan. 

The killing sparked a strong public reaction in Tajikistan and prompted extensive discussion on social media. On December 17, Tajikistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement strongly condemning the attack on a Tajik national, which Dushanbe believes was carried out on the basis of ethnic hatred.

Tajikistan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs also reported that Interior Minister Ramazon Rahimzoda raised the issue in a telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Kolokoltsev, demanding a comprehensive and objective investigation into all the circumstances surrounding the incident.

Human rights advocates have noted that this is not the first case of the brutal killing of Tajik children in Russia, underscoring persistent concerns over safety and ethnic hostility.

By Tamilla Hasanova