Bunyod Mirzoyev was found hanged after three days of police questioning over his apparent links to the Islamic extremist group IS. His family and friends said that police tortured him to try to extract a confession and had then killed him to try and hide the evidence.

The accusation triggered a forthright response from the police who issued a statement saying that they were on the receiving end of slander and that opponents of the authorities were trying to use the death of Mirzoyev to discredit the police.

Instead, the Tajik police said Mirzoyev had hanged himself from a tree when he returned home after being questioned.

“The suicide of B. Mirzoyev is currently under investigation by the prosecution,” the police said.

Still, human rights groups have long complained about police brutality in Tajikistan.

In 2012, Amnesty International released a report about the Tajik police’s use of torture to extract confessions.

“The torture methods used by the security forces are shocking: involving electric shocks, boiling water, suffocation, beatings, burning with cigarettes, rape and threats of rape – the only escape is to sign a confession or sometimes to pay a bribe ,” it said.

And it’s not difficult to find people who have had first hand experience of it.

A 32-year-old worker, said that the police beat people even if they have not done anything. “They can beat you up so hard that you will confess that you killed Lenin,” he said.