A prosecutor has reportedly asked the court to extend the jail term handed down to Tajik human rights lawyer Buzurgmehr Yorov by seventeen years.
According to his relatives, Yorov, who is currently serving a 25-year jail term, now is charged with fraud and insulting the Leader of the Nation (the President of Tajikistan).
The trial is reportedly being held behind closed doors.
Under Tajikistan’s legislation, an individual cannot be sentenced to more than 30 years in prison. Therefore, if Buzurgmehr Yorov is convicted, his jail term will be extended to 30 years.
Recall, Tajik judicial authorities extended the prison term handed down to Buzurgmehr Yorov in March this year.
Tajikistan’s Supreme Court sentenced Buzurgmehr Yorov, who was serving a 23-year jail term, to an additional two years behind bars on March 15.
Yorov’s relatives say the Supreme Court found him guilty of contempt of court and insulting a government official.
Yorov was sentenced to 23 years in prison in October last year, after the Dushanbe City Court found him guilty on charges of issuing public calls for the overthrow of the government and inciting social unrest.
At that trial, Yorov pleaded not guilty and called the case against him politically motivated.
He then read out verses by the 11th century Persian poet Omar Khayyam about fools, which led to the charges of contempt of court and insulting a government official.
Yorov was a lawyer of 13 members and leaders of the Islamic Revival Party of Tajikistan (IRPT), a group that was banned in 2015 as a terrorist organization.
Dozens of party members have been arrested.
Yorov is among at least five human rights attorneys who have been targeted by authorities in Tajikistan in connection with their work, prompting the U.S.-based Human Rights Watch and other rights groups to call for their immediate and unconditional release.
