Aug. 19, 2022 at 5:28 pm

Обращение памирской диаспоры за рубежом в Управление Верховного комиссара ООН по правам человека

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В редакцию Pamir Daily News отправили обращение памирской диаспоры в Управление Верховного комиссара ООН по правам человека. В обращении просят призвать властей Таджикистана прекратить преследование, пытки и бесчеловечное обращение с памирскими журналистами, правозащитниками и активистами гражданского общества и немедленно освободить их из-под стражи.

Публикуем полный текст заявление без изменений.

IMMEDIATE ACTION NEEDED

To: Mary Lawlor, Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights

Defenders

Nils Melzer, Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

Fernand De Varennes,

Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues

Clement Nyaletsossi Voule, Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association

Fionnuala Ni Aolain, Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection

of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms While Countering Terrorism

Irene Khan, Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection

of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression

Working Group on Arbitrary Detention

Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances

OHCHR Special Procedures

From: Pamiri diaspora civil society activists of Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO), Tajikistan

Date: 18 August 2022

RE: OHCHR Special Procedures – PLEASE URGENTLY CALL on the authorities of the Republic of Tajikistan to stop persecution, torture, and inhuman treatment of Pamiri journalists, human rights defenders and civil society activists and immediately release them from detention

From mid-May 2022 onwards, hundreds of representatives of the Pamiri ethnic minority of Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) have been arrested and tired on spurious charges of conspiracy and public calls to change constitutional order of Tajikistan, riots, organisation of criminal community, possession of firearms and many other illegal acts. Arrests in Tajikistan and abroad – predominantly in Russia, which used to be a home to the largest Pamiri diaspora outside of Tajikistan – continue as you read this statement. Several prominent members of the diaspora have disappeared in Russia and then mysteriously appeared on local TV channels.[1] Sources close to law enforcement bodies of both countries report that a group of operatives from Tajikistan’s Interior Ministry arrived in Moscow this week with a task to detain and forcibly take up to 30 Pamiri activists back to Tajikistan where they would be tried on similar bogus charges. The sole aim of this campaign reminiscent of infamous Stalinist purge of 1930s and 1950s is to terrorize the Pamiris, destroy their civil society, get rid of their leaders who openly objected to and resisted instances of injustice and abuse of power by law enforcement agencies and public prosecutors in GBAO. More than that – over 40 local residents, including local leaders, who enjoyed respect and could speak up for their fellow Pamiris got killed by special forces who stage fake scenes of armed resistance, plant firearms near dead bodies and film them to be shown on national and local state TV channels.[2]

The courts in Tajikistan, including in GBAO, have become conveyor belts, reviewing cases and issuing convictions of different degree of severity – from 5 years to life imprisonment. [3]

Among those who have been unlawfully detained and facing charges of organising and participating in a criminal community and public calls for a forceful change of constitutional order are Ulfatkhonim Mamadshoeva, a prominent representative of Pamiri minority, independent journalist, civil society activist and human rights defender, who was accused by the Interior Ministry to be the main organiser of the ‘riots’ in Khorog and Rushan on 14-18 May 2022[4], and members of the “Commission 44”[5], a civil society organisation of GBAO, which was created in the aftermath of the extrajudicial killing of Gulbiddin Ziyobekov a 29-years old resident of Roshtqala district of GBAO by special forces of the State Committee for National Security of Tajikistan in November 2021. Members of the Commission 44, who have been arrested and are facing charges are Manuchehr Kholiqnazarov, the founder and director of the Lawyers’ Association of Pamir, a member organisation of the National Coalition for the Prevention of Torture and Impunity[6], Faromuz Irgashov, a prominent lawyer, who made a brave attempt to run as an independent candidate for presidential elections in 2020[7] and who reportedly acted as a defence lawyer at a trail of other Pamiri detainees held behind closed doors in pretrial detention centre while himself being a detainee and an accused, and Khursand Mamadshoev, an active member of a local civil society organisation called Public Council for Support to the Civil Society in Promoting Public Order, whose main objective was to disseminate information on legal rights and obligations among local residents, especially youth, with a view of conflict prevention and conflict resolution. Several other members of the Commission 44 – such as Khujamri Pirnazarov, the spokesperson of the Comission 44 and Shaftolu Bekdavlatov, have already been convicted to lengthy prison terms in secret trials held behind closed doors, without access to defence lawyers.[8]

Ulfatkhonim Mamadshoeva and members of Commission 44 are being presented as members of the same criminal community (organisation) created with the purpose of overthrowing the government of Tajikistan. While in detention, they have undoubtedly been subjected to the immense psychological pressure, possibly torture, in order to force them to confess. The fact that Ulfatkhonim Mamadshoeva’s ‘confession’ was shown in just few days after her arrest on the national TV channel is a proof of coercion[9], since before her arrest, she vehemently publicly denied all the allegations against her.[10] According to the latest information from confidential sources in Dushanbe, a presiding judge in their case has been identified, which means that their trial is about to start. Judging by the latest trials of the members of Pamiri diaspora, their trial will also be held behind closed doors and will be swift. According to some sources, 65-years old Ulfatkhonim Mamadshoeva might face 25 years of prison.[11]

Various advocacy groups and organisations have raised their voices in support of the detained Pamiri activists and called on the Government of Tajikistan to stop their persecution and release them immediately, including Human Rights Watch[12], OMCT[13] and FDIH[14], Frontline Defenders[15], ProtectDefenders.eu[16], International Commission of Jurists[17] and Committee to Protect Journalists[18].

WE CALL ON THE OHCHR SPECIAL PROCEDURES, ESPECIALLY THE SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON THE SITUATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS, SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON TORTURE AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT AND SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON THE PROMOTION AND PROTECTION OF THE RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF OPINION AND EXPRESSION TO FOLLOW SUIT AND ISSUE SIMILAR STATEMENTS ON THE CASE.

DUE TO THE IMMINENT THREAT OF A SWIFT AND SECRETIVE TRIAL THAT THESE INDIVIDUALS ARE FACING, THE TIME IS OF ESSENCE. TO HAVE ANY IMPACT, IT IS OF UTMOST IMPORTANCE THAT SUCH STATEMENTS BE ISSUED BEFORE THE VERDICT IS ISSUED.

IF THE STATEMENTS ARE ISSUED AFTER THE VERDICT OR NOT ISSUED AT ALL, THIS WILL BE CONSIDERED BY MANY AS A LACK OF PRINCIPLED POSITION OF THE OHCHR EXPERTS IN THE FACE OF GROSS VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS, AND WILL BE USED BY THE GOVERNMENT OF TAJIKISTAN AS A VALIDATION OF OR ACQUIESCENCE WITH THEIR CHARGES AGAINST THESE INDIVIDUALS.

[1] https://eurasianet.org/tajikistan-pamiri-activists-imprisoned-en-masse; https://www.rferl.org/a/russian-tajik-citizens-forcibly-taken-moscow-to-tajikistan/31969260.html

[2] https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/gorno-badakhshan-mamadboqirov-tajikistan-pamir-mountains/

[3] https://www.rferl.org/a/tajikistan-badakshan-cleric-five-years/31975340.html

[4] https://eurasianet.org/tajikistan-respected-activist-faces-prison-over-alleged-plotting-with-us-government

[5] https://fergana.agency/news/126298/

[6] https://rus.ozodi.org/a/31877006.html

[7] https://asiaplustj.info/en/news/tajikistan/politics/20200914/the-dream-of-a-young-lawyer-from-khorog-to-become-the-president-of-tajikistan-did-not-come-true

[8] https://rus.ozodi.org/a/31922829.html

[9] https://www.rferl.org/a/tajikistan-televised-confessions-gorno-badakhshan/31868321.html

[10] https://eurasianet.org/tajikistan-crisis-gripped-government-opts-to-pick-deadly-fight-in-the-pamirs; https://fergana.agency/news/126182/

[11] https://www.rferl.org/a/tajikistan-badakshan-kholbashov-mamadshoeva-prison-prosecution/31990868.html

[12] https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/05/26/tajikistan-stop-abusing-autonomous-region-protesters