DUSHANBE, September 11, 2012, Asia-Plus — Sherik Karamkhudoyev, the head of the Islamic Revival Party (IRP)’s organization for Khorog, faces charges of the involvement in armed activities against the government forces. His lawyers say they are not allowed to meet their clients
Karamkhudoyev’s lawyer, Buzurgmehr Yorov, noted on Tuesday that he has not been able to meet his client during ten days.
Buzurgmehr Yorov and Bobokhon Yoqubov, who is another lawyer of Karamkhudoyev, have lodged four applications to the investigator, chief of the operational group for the Khorog event, and Tajik chief prosecutor, asking for permission to meet their client. The lawyers say they are not allowed to meet their client in private.
“We want to meet our client in private in order familiarize ourselves with the case materials,” Yorov noted.
He added that as far as he knows, Sherik Karamkhudoyev faces charges of organizing a criminal grouping (Article 187 of Tajikistan’s penal code) and illegally bearing, possessing, acquiring, and manufacturing weapons (Article 195).
We will recall the IRP reported Sherik Karamkhudoyev as missing on July 24, when government forces launched a massive military operation in the city of Khorog, the capital of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO).
Two weeks after his disappearance, Karamkhudoyev was revealed to be held in the detention facility of the State Committee for National Security (SCNS). A statement released by Freedom House notes that according to a reliable report, Karamkhudoyev has been subjected to torture while in detention.
Tajik law enforcement authorities claim that Karamkhudoyev allegedly collaborated with Imomnazar Imomnazarov, who was murdered by unknown assailants in his home in Khorog on August 22.
