DUSHANBE, February 25, 2015, Asia-Plus — A prosecutor in the trial of Umedjon Solehov, who is charged with membership in the Tajik opposition group Group 24, asked a court in Dushanbe’s Ismoili Somoni district on February 25 to sentence Solehov to an 18-year prison term.
Buzurgmehr Yorov, a defense lawyer for Umedjon Solehov, says that Solehov, who faces charges of calling for an extremist activity, organizing an extremist group, organizing a criminal group and insulting the president, maintains his innocence.
“My client says he has nothing to do with the organization Group 24,” Yorov noted.
The next hearing over this case will take place on March 3.
Umedjon Solehov was reportedly arrested in October 2014 when he arrived in Tajikistan from Russia and the Interior Ministry organized crime control directorate instituted criminal proceedings against him.
The organization called Group 24 was formed by Tajik fugitive businessman Umarali Quvvatov in Moscow in 2012.
On December 23, 2012, Quvvatov was arrested in Dubai at the request of Tajik authorities. He has been accused of illegally obtaining about $1.2 million through fraudulent business activities. Quvvatov denounced the fraud case against him and accused Tajik President Emomali Rahmon of running a “totalitarian regime.” In an open letter smuggled out of the detention center, Umarali Quvvatov said the accusations leveled against him were “a direct consequence” of his battle against the “oppression of the Tajik people” by Rahmon”s government. Quvvatov was released from the detention center in Dubai on September 26, 2013.
Tajikistan”s Supreme Court banned Group 24 on October 9, 2014 following growing government pressure on the opposition group after it used the Internet to call for street protests in the capital, Dushanbe, on October 10.
Supreme Court judge Salomat Hakimova ruled that Group 24 is an extremist organization, and therefore is banned in Tajikistan. Its website and printed materials were also banned.
On December 19, 2014, Umarali Quvvatov was detained in Istanbul, Turkey. He was freed from the Istanbul detention facility on February 3 this year.
