DUSHANBE, April 6, 2009, Asia-Plus — Despite changes to the land code, substantive property law is weighted against private property holders. Property recording systems are outmoded, leaving government officials with numerous opportunities to claim that property owners violated regulations, a 2008 Report on Human Rights Practices in Tajikistan, released by the U.S. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor on February 25, 2009, said.
Government officials relied on lack of procedural transparency to implement development plans that call for building new business or residences in city centers at the expense of long-time residents. Municipal governments that developed these plans did not share them with the public, and evictees were afforded only a cursory degree of due process.
Officials appeared to decide that government control of certain parcels was necessary with no public debate and without elaborating on the justification for government seizure. Governments then notified residents that they must leave their property and offered very little compensation. If residents did not comply, city officials took them to court; court hearings generally resulted in an eviction order. Property owners who challenged evictions in the courts generally were unsuccessful and were subject to retribution – some were charged with criminal violations.
The report, in particular, notes that in June 2008 officials demolished the country”s only synagogue to make way for a new presidential palace. In April, despite significant irregularities in the process, a local court upheld an eviction order against Dushanbe”s Jewish community. City officials and Jewish community leaders were unable to reach a compromise to relocate the synagogue or pursue an alternative solution. Observers criticized the lack of procedural transparency and fairness, as well as the authorities” unwillingness to compensate adequately the community.
