Radio Liberty’s Tajik Services reported on August 7 that human rights activists say Tajik activist Amriddin Kholmurodov, who was detained in February 2022 in Slovakia, faces extradition to Tajikistan, where he may be subjected to torture and violence.
Amriddin Kholmurodov, 37, who was detained while crossing the Ukrainian-Slovak border, is still in a pretrial detention center in Kosice, Slovakia's second-largest city. Kholmurodov's relatives say that, if extradited, he is going to be punished for his sharp criticism of Tajik authorities on social media.
Dozens of Tajik opposition supporters and social media activists living in European countries have been put on an international wanted list by Tajik authorities on charges of “terrorism” and “extremism.”
According to Kholmurodov's relatives, who preferred to remain anonymous, a court in Dushanbe’s Ismoili Somoni district ordered his arrest five years ago.
Kholmurodov is facing criminal charges under three articles of the Tajik Criminal Code: inciting social, racial, national, regional, religious hatred; public calls for violent change of the constitutional order of Tajikistan; and membership in a criminal organization, his relatives said.
If found guilty, he faces more than 10 years in prison in Tajikistan. Tajik officials have not commented on the case.
Last week, a group of Lithuania-based Tajik activists organized a demonstration in Kholmurodov's support outside the European Union’s office in Vilnius.
Abdusattor Boboyev, the head of the Committee for the Protection of Political Hostages and Prisoners in Tajikistan, told RFE/RL on August 6 that the EU representatives met with four protesters, and that they handed the diplomats a letter to the government of Slovakia and the EU.
“In our letter, we called on the Slovak president and the EU leadership to release the activist and not extradite him to Tajikistan, where Kholmurodov may be subjected to torture and violence," said Boboyev.
Amriddin Kholmurodov has reportedly lived in Ukraine for the past few years and has a residence permit in that country. Days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he tried to enter Slovakia, where he was arrested at the border.
Amriddin Kholmurodov reportedly criticized Tajik authorities on the social network Odnoklassniki under the pseudonym "Muhammadjon Umarov."
