DUSHANBE November 23, 2011, Asia-Plus – Unfortunately, we find once again that sovereignty of Tajikistan is limited and its judicial power is dependent despite the principle of separation of powers and it fully dependent on the executive power, deputy leader of the Social-Democratic Party (SDP), Shokirjon Hakimov, said in an interview with Asia-Plus, commenting yesterday’s decision of the Khatlon regional court on the case of Russian pilot Vladimir Sadovnichiy and his Estonian colleague Aleksey Rudenko.
“In this case, they have to pay compensation to the pilots for moral damage and pecuniary loss, institute criminal proceedings against all officers of appropriate law enforcement agencies and dismiss some of them,” Hakimov said.
According to him, the Tajik authorities have been frightened by the possibility of mass return of labor migrants. “In this case, there would be a real threat of destabilization of the situation in the country, Hakimov added.
We will recall that many Tajik migrants were rounded up in Moscow after the initial guilty ruling.
Tajik journalist Nourali Davlat considers that all pilots’ case materials were to be published straight after the initial ruling so that independent experts would have an opportunity to assess to what an extent the sentence is fair. “It is not late to do this today or tomorrow,” Davlat said.
According to him, if the Tajik side is right in this case, “it must announce this through the world and continue getting its own way, if not, it must admit making mistake and punish all those involved in this disgrace.”
The Communist Party leader Shodi Sahbdolov, who is also deputy of the Majlisi Namoyandagon (Tajikistan’s lower chamber of parliament), considers that the breach that emerged in Tajik-Russian relations may be closed only through direct negotiations between the governments of the two countries.
We will recall that the appeals commission of the Khatlon regional court yesterday freed a Russian and an Estonian pilot whose jailing this month led to a major row with Moscow.
Russia”s Vladimir Sadovnichiy and Aleksey Rudenko from Estonia were jailed for 8½ years on November 8 for smuggling and illegally crossing the border. But the men, who both denied the charges, were released on November 22 at the request of the prosecutor and following heavy pressure from the Kremlin.
Russia’s news agency, Interfax, reports Russia”s Foreign Ministry welcomed the news as “great success.”
According to the Russian presidential website, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev welcomes the decision of the Tajikistani court to release Russian pilot Vladimir Sadovnichiy. He reportedly monitored the situation personally. On his instructions, consultations were held with the Tajik authorities and all measures taken to protect the rights of the Russian citizen.
In the meantime, Sadovnichiy told Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service on November 22 that he was “pleased” with the result. The Russian pilot also said that Tajiks living in Russia should not bear the brunt of political squabbles between Russia and Tajikistan.
He said that Tajik migrants “went to Russia because of poor conditions at home; they went there to feed their families. Sending them back home doesn”t lead to anything good. I think it”s very wrong.”
A representative of the Russian Embassy in Dushanbe, Dmitry Kabayev, was present when the new verdict was read out. He welcomed the ruling. “The ”guilty” verdict still stands. It”s hard to fully evaluate the verdict but we are satisfied with the fact that the pilots were freed today,” he said. “This is the most important thing.”
