Tajikistan Justice - The Times Of Central Asia

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Peace for Women and Children Returning from Syria to Tajikistan

Dozens of women and children returning from Syria have now been reunited with their loved ones in Tajikistan and according to the Ministry of Health, are adapting to a peaceful life. The return of Tajik citizens, primarily women and children, who left for Syria's combat zone and fell prey to terrorist organizations, has continued since 2022. On 27 September 2023, the Government of Tajikistan introduced a program to aid their rehabilitation. According to , Kudratullo Kurbonzoda, head of the Social Protection Department of Tajikistan's Ministry of Health and Social Protection, over the past two years, 334 people, including 259 children, have been returned from Syrian prisons to their homeland and having passed through the program's three stages, are settling in well. “Their health and mental state have recovered," commented Kurbonzoda Ku, adding that thanks to the program, even those without documents, such as passports or birth certificates, have been able to contact their families wherever they are in the country. A further 47 people who returned in April are currently under the supervision of the agency's specialists and receiving assistance from doctors and psychologists, as well as from education and internal affairs officials. Referencing the program's guidelines, Kurbonzoda added that in addition to financial and material assistance, the government recommended the placement of the children in schools and kindergartens, and provision of training and jobs for women.

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Close Associate of Tajikistan’s Prime Minister Rasulzoda Detained on Suspicion of Large-Scale Fraud

Mukim Ashurov, a relative by marriage of Tajikistan's prime minister Kohir Rasulzoda, has been detained on suspicion of fraud, Radio Ozodi reports. The Department of Internal Affairs in the country's Sughd region said on May 30 that “the case against Mukim Ashurov is being investigated under Part 4 of Article 247 (Fraud committed on a large scale) of the Criminal Code of Tajikistan,” which carries a penalty of a fine or imprisonment for 8 to 12 years. Ashurov, 65, is currently being held in Khujand's pre-trial detention center. “It was established that several years ago, he entered the confidence of a resident of [the city of] Khujand and received from him 320 thousand dollars for the sale of a four-story store. But then he sold the store to another person but did not return the amount he had originally received,” a statement from the department says. There is not much information about Ashurov in the public domain. According to official data he is a resident of Sughd's Bobojon Gafurov district. A man named Mukim Ashurov has a Facebook profile that says that he lives in Khujand, and works as the director of a travel agency. He is said to be very influential within the circle of the country's prime minister, Kohir Rasulzoda. Ashurov's son, Parviz Ashurov, is married to Rasulzoda's eldest daughter.

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U.S. Authorities Asked to Sanction Violators of Religious Freedoms in Tajikistan

In early May, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) published its annual report on violations of religious freedom around the world. As a result of the report, the Commission called on the U.S. government to impose targeted sanctions against government agencies and officials in Tajikistan responsible for serious violations of religious freedom. This is reported by Radio Ozodi. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is an independent, bipartisan federal government organization created by the U.S. Congress to monitor, analyze, and report on religious freedom abroad. USCIRF makes foreign policy recommendations to the President, Secretary of State, and Congress to deter religious persecution and promote freedom of religion and belief. Its annual report describes and evaluates U.S. international religious freedom policy. USCIRF criticizes the Tajik authorities for punishing oppositionists and critics of Emomali Rahmon's government under the pretext of combating extremism, closing mosques due to failure to fulfill the plan to draft into the Armed Forces of Tajikistan, restricting the activities of certain Aga Khan-related facilities in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast, banning the activities of Jehovah's Witnesses, etc. The Commission emphasizes that the situation of religious freedom in Tajikistan, despite earlier recommendations, did not improve in 2023. "In 2023, the government of Tajikistan continued to restrict the religious activities of citizens, including those living abroad," the report states. For this reason, the Commission recommended that the U.S. government impose targeted sanctions against government agencies and officials responsible for serious violations of religious freedom, freeze their assets, and bar them from entering the United States. A similar recommendation was announced last May. USCIRF also called on the U.S. State Department to place Tajikistan, along with 16 other countries, on a "red" list of countries "of particular concern" because their governments commit or tolerate particularly serious violations of the right to freedom of religion or belief. In addition to Tajikistan, the list includes Burma, China, Cuba, Nicaragua, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkmenistan, Vietnam and others. The Tajik authorities have not yet responded to the report, but the Tajik Committee on Religious Affairs responded to Radio Ozodi's request in January this year that it "considers the situation with religious freedom in the country to be good" and "not all the data in the reports correspond to reality". Tajikistan's challenges with violent extremism were highlighted recently following the claim by an offshoot of the Islamic State terrorist group, known as Islamic State-Khorasan, for the April attack on the Crocus City concert hall outside Moscow, which resulted in at least 143 fatalities. Russian investigators have determined that the assault was carried out by four individuals, all of whom were identified as Tajik nationals.

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Czech Authorities Suspend Investigation of 2014 Explosions; One Suspect Allegedly Posed as a Tajik Citizen

The Czech Republic has suspended an investigation of ammunition depot explosions in 2014 that it blames on Russian military intelligence, including an agent who allegedly used a Tajik passport during the operation. Two Czech citizens died in the first of two explosions at warehouses in the village of Vrbětice, an alleged act of sabotage that led to years of unexploded ordnance cleanup, an international investigation and Russian denials of involvement, and a tit-for-tat expulsion of Russian and Czech diplomats from each other’s countries. Tajikistan was pulled into the case in 2021 when Czech investigators said they were looking for two suspects who used Russian passports, and then used different identities under Tajik and Moldovan passports. At the time, Tajikistan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs said it had not issued a passport to a person matching the reported name and birthday of the suspect. Reports said the suspects had posed as potential arms buyers from the National Guard of Tajikistan, though an analysis by a group of media organizations said it was unclear whether that particular ruse enabled them to get onto the ammunition storage sites. Czech law enforcement halted the probe into the Vrbětice blasts because the suspects are in Russia, which is not cooperating, said Col. Jiří Mazánek, head of the organized crime division of the police. He said in a statement on Monday that all other avenues of investigation in the Czech Republic, and in countries that have cooperated with requests for help, “have been exhausted.” Therefore, Mazánek said, additional information that would allow a criminal prosecution to move forward can’t be obtained for now. Evidence indicates that the explosions were “part of a long-term diversionary operation by Russian military intelligence on the territory of the European Union and Ukraine,” the police official said, blaming members of the Russian agency GRU whose alleged aim was to prevent the delivery of weapons and ammunition to areas where the Russian Army was operating. In 2014, Russia annexed Crimea and fighting erupted in eastern Ukraine between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed separatists, in a prelude to Russia’s invasion in 2022 and the ongoing war today. Russia denied it was responsible for the Vrbětice explosions and noted media reports that the ammunition depots were controlled not by the Czech government, but by a private company owned by a Bulgarian citizen.

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Tajik Nationals Held in Moscow Airports as Russia Tightens Border Controls

More than a thousand Tajik citizens are being held in detention facilities at Moscow airports in unsanitary conditions and without access to hot meals, Tajikistan said on Sunday, a day after the government urged its’ nationals to temporarily refrain from traveling to Russia “unless absolutely necessary.” Over the weekend, Russia disputed Tajik claims that it is targeting people from Tajikistan, saying it is intensifying anti-terrorism measures and that more rigorous checks of foreign citizens seeking entry are carried out “regardless of the nationality of the persons.” The diplomatic back-and-forth, a rare show of discord between Russia and Tajikistan, comes amid a surge in suspicion and harassment among some Russians toward Tajik citizens after gunmen attacked the Crocus City Hall on March 22, killing more than 140 people. Several Tajik suspects were among those initially detained, and Russia’s state-run agency, Tass said on Saturday that a court had ordered the arrest of a 12th suspect, a Tajik citizen living in a Moscow hostel. The Islamic State group, which claimed responsibility for the attack, has some Central Asian recruits, though their number is disputed. “The situation with Tajik citizens stuck at Moscow airports remains difficult,” and restrictive measures are being applied “exclusively” to people from Tajikistan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Tajikistan said in a statement. By late Saturday, 954 Tajik citizens, including students in Russia on scholarships provided by the Tajik government, were in temporary detention at Vnukovo International Airport in Moscow, according to the ministry. It said 322 who waited for hours were allowed into Russia, but the Russian authorities reportedly planned to add 306 people to an “expulsion list,” and 27 have already been expelled. Dozens of Tajik citizens are also being held in poor conditions at the Zhukovsky, Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo airports in Moscow, according to the ministry. Tajik diplomats and members of the diaspora in Russia are delivering meals to their detained compatriots. The embassy in Moscow has opened a 24-hour operational headquarters to help them. Tajikistan expressed its concern in a meeting last week after summoning Russian Ambassador Semyon Grigoryev to the foreign ministry in Dushanbe. On Saturday, in a notice that it described as urgent, Tajikistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged citizens to “temporarily refrain from traveling to Russian territory by all types of transport unless absolutely necessary.” More thorough checks by Russian law enforcement means that “at checkpoints across the state border, including at a number of airports, there are delays during passport control,” said Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “The Russian side is taking comprehensive measures to resolve the current situation as quickly as possible. We count on your understanding.” Zakharova said “no changes have been made to the list of grounds for imposing a ban on entry into the Russian Federation; there are no additional obstacles to crossing the state border by foreign citizens, provided they have all the necessary documents.” Meanwhile, citizens of Tajikistan are also experiencing problems with entry at land border crossings. More than...

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Tajikistan Denounces “Torture” of Tajik Suspects in Moscow Attack, Urges Fair Trial

Tajikistan’s foreign minister has described the beating and abuse of several Tajik suspects in the mass killing of more than 140 people at a Russian concert hall as “torture” that is at odds with the need for a thorough investigation and a fair trial. Foreign Minister, Sirojiddin Muhriddin also said that Tajik people had faced an “information campaign” of racism and xenophobia since the attack at the Crocus City Hall in Moscow on March 22. His comments were some of the strongest yet by Tajikistan’s Government, reflecting increased worry over the national image and the plight of many poor Tajik migrants in Russia who were already living in precarious conditions. Muhriddin urged the Russian authorities to conduct an investigation into the Crocus City Hall attack according to international norms, including the right to a fair trial, reported Asia-Plus, a media group in Tajikistan. He spoke at a meeting of regional foreign ministers in Minsk, Belarus. “The demonstration in the open information space of footage of the detention of suspected perpetrators of a terrorist act with the use of torture against them in the form of bodily mutilation is unacceptable,” Muhriddin said. “The price of confessions obtained in this way is well known to everyone.” Several migrant laborers from Tajikistan were among suspects charged with terrorism in the wake of the attack, and they appeared in court with visible injuries. At the time, videos and photographs circulating on social media showed the men being beaten and abused while in detention. In one video, a man in camouflage cuts off part of the ear of a suspect and forces it into his mouth. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the Crocus City Hall attack, which focused attention on the group’s efforts to recruit people from Central Asia into its ranks. Muhriddin alluded to widespread reports of harassment and hostility toward Tajik migrants, particularly in Russia. “As a result of an ill-conceived information campaign, a negative perception of citizens of Tajikistan and Tajiks is being formed,” the Tajik foreign minister said. As for the attack, he said: “All criminals must be punished: the organizers, the perpetrators, the accomplices, and the masterminds of this monstrous crime.” In the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, despite ongoing Russian attempts to pin the blame for the atrocity on Ukraine, Russia has pressed ahead with new laws targeting migrants. Focusing on Russia’s “unreliable narrative” regarding the attack, Noah Tucker, a Senior Research Consultant at the Oxus Society and Program Associate of the Central Asia Program at George Washington University stated that the “last major attack inside Russia was the 2017 metro bombing. [In a] strategy of authoritarian cooperation… that was also blamed on Central Asian migrants, and the security services arrested two Uzbek brothers and sent them to jail as the direct orchestrators of the attack – only the facts never added up… One of the brothers, who was charged as being the mastermind, was lying in a hospital in Osh during the attack, and...