DUSHANBE, November 20, Asia-Plus – Rajab Mirzo, the head of the Democratic Party’s (DPT) organization for Dushanbe, was release from the detention facility yesterday, November 19.
Rahmatullo Valiyev, the deputy head of Mahmadruzi Iskandarov-run Democratic Party, said in an interview with Asia-Plus that three other Democrats – Khairiddin Gulyev, Yusuf Hotamov and Temur Toshev – had also been released.
They were arrested on November 4 after Tajik security officers broke up an unauthorized rally staged by the DPT near the building of the Ministry of Justice. The same day, a court in the Shohmansour district of Dushanbe sentenced them to 15 days. They faced charges under Article 15 of the RT Law “On Rallies and Peaceful Processions.”
We will recall that several members of the branch of the DPT headed by the imprisoned Mahmadruzi Iskandarov gathered near the Ministry of Justice on November 4, at around 10:30 a.m. The rally was organized by the DPT in Dushanbe. The demonstrators demanded that the Ministry of Justice cancel its decision to recognize Masoud Sobirov as an official leader of the DPT. Picketers carried placards “Law Is Above All” and “Tajikistan Is the Rule-of-Law State, in Which Law Should Be Above All.” A small group of people, including members from the Social-Democratic Party and the Mirhusein Narziyev-run wing of the Socialist Party, were nearby supporting picketers. The meeting lasted a couple of minutes because several plainclothes security officers surrounded the picketers, seized their placards and evicted the demonstrators from the sidewalk. Four activists, including Rajab Mirzo, were detained and sentenced to 15 days in jail for staging an illegal rally.
Valiyev also said that Rajab Mirzo is currently in the Vose district, where his parents live, and he intends to continue his political activity in the near future.
