The son of jailed deputy head of the Social-Democratic Party of Tajikistan (SDPT) has got a lengthy jail term.
A court in the city of Hisor sentenced Shaikhmuslihiddin Rizoyev to six years in prison on February 25.
First deputy head of the SDPT, Shokirjon Hakimov, says the sentence followed Rizoyev’s conviction on charges of hooliganism and attempted rape.
Hakimov noted that he would not be able to give a legal assessment of the sentence because he was familiarized with it.
At the same time, he noted, “Non-government and international organizations against torture, which receive significant financing, must monitor this case and inform media of the results.”
Recall, Shaikhmuslihiddin Rizoyev's father, Mahmourod Odinayev, a deputy head of the Social Democratic Party of Tajikistan, was sentenced on 14 years in prison on January 28.
A court in Roudaki district had found Mahmourod Odinayev guilty of hooliganism committed by a group of people by prior conspiracy, with resistance to government officials or to other persons charged with the responsibility of maintaining public order.(Article 237 (2) of Tajikistan’s Penal Code) and public calls for extremist activity or public justification of extremism.( Article 307 (1) of Tajikistan’s Penal Code).
The court's ruling was nearly identical to the prosecution's earlier demand for a 15-year prison term.
Mahmourod Odinayev went missing on November 20 after he asked Dushanbe Mayor Rustam Emomali in a Facebook post to allow him and supporters of the Social Democratic Party to stage a demonstration over food-price hikes.
On December 5, the Tajik Prosecutor-General's Office acknowledged that Odinayev had been arrested in Dushanbe.
According to the authorities, he conducted an act of hooliganism in late October in a military draft office where prosecutors say he confronted officials over the conscription of Rizoyev.
That came after the Interior Ministry said in November that Shaikhmuslihiddin Rizoyev was charged with hooliganism over his alleged involvement in a brawl.
Meanwhile, Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service, known locally as Radio Ozodi, says another son of Odinayev, Habibulllo Rizoyev, was also convicted of hooliganism and fined 58,000 somonis (more than US$5,000) at the time. Both men pleaded not guilty during the trial, rejecting the charges as politically motivated.
The mother of the Rizoyev brothers, Mehrinigor Rizoyeva, told RFE/RL that all the charges against her sons were politically motivated and linked to the political activities of their father.
