DUSHANBE, April 9, 2015, Asia-Plus – Two other men have got jail terms for association with the opposition organization Group 24.
A court in Dushanbe’s Ismoili Somoni district sentenced Mahmadali Jobirov, 35, and Muhammadrizo Shamszoda, 23, to 3½ and 3 years respectively on April 8. Both of them are residents of the Vahdat Township.
The sentence followed their conviction on charges of organizing an activity of an extremist group (Article 307’ of Tajikistan’s Penal Code).
While reading out the verdict, Judge Safarbek Nouralizoda, who presided over the trial, noted that Jobirov worked closely with Group 24 leader Umarali Quvvatov in Moscow. “Jobirov was engaged in publication of extremist materials and recruiting youth to the organization,” the judge said.
According to him, Shamszoda was found guilty of keeping photos and video materials of Group 24 in his notebook. These materials were allegedly handed over to him by Jobirov for publication but he failed to distribute them.
It is not the first trial of members of the outlawed Group 24 organization in Tajikistan.
We will recall that the Ismoili Somoni district court sentenced Firdavs Muhiddinov and Farhod Karimov to 16 ½ years in prison each on March 13 for association with Group 24. They were charged with insulting the president, organizing an extremist group, organizing a criminal group, and calling for extremist actions.
Meanwhile, Muhiddinov and Karimov denied any association with Group 24.
Karimov’s defense lawyer, Khurshed Zikirov, noted that his client owned only to keeping photos insulting the head of state in his computer.
Farhod Karimov was arrested last year after police searched his computer and found photos, which they said “insulted” Rahmon.
Firdavs Muhiddinov was detained for appearing in an online video of a gathering by Tajik migrant workers in Russia, in which he called on President Emomali Rahmon to resign. Parents of Firdavs Muhiddinov say their son was working in Russia and he participated only one time in a demonstration organized by Group 24 in Novosibirsk. He was detained by Tajik law enforcement authorities after he returned to Tajikistan.
Besides, the Ismoili Somoni district court sentenced Umedjon Solehov to 17½ years in prison on March 4 for insulting the president, calling for extremist actions, and being a member of the banned opposition movement Group 24. The court also ruled that Umedjon Solehov cannot be involved in any business activities for five years after completing his jail term.
Solehov was arrested in October last year after he was seen in an online video of a gathering by Tajik migrant workers in Russia, calling on Tajik President Emomali Rahmon to resign.
Solehov, however, insisted that he had never been a member of Group 24.
The Group 24 organization was banned in October, when the government labeled it as an extremist group. Its founder Umarali Quvvatov was shot dead in Istanbul, Turkey on March 5.
