Amnesty International (AI) is urging the Tajik authorities to “immediately” release prominent journalist and stand-up comedian Khairullo Mirsaidov, who has been in pretrial detention for more than a month.
In a statement released on January 25, Amnesty International said, “Khairullo Mirsaidov is a prisoner of conscience who is being punished solely for exercising his right to freedom of expression.”
“Khairullo Mirsaidov should be immediately and unconditionally released,” the statement said.
AI says that it addressed its concerns about the arbitrary prosecution of Khairullo Mirsaidov to the Prosecutor General of Tajikistan in December 2017 calling on him to use his authority to ensure that all criminal charges against Khairullo Mirsaidov were dropped, that he was released promptly from pre-trial detention and that he was able in future to carry out his work as a journalist and continue his activities as part of the KVN comedy team unhindered. Amnesty International’s letter reportedly remains unanswered.
Mirsaidov’s case has drawn international attention, with the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) releasing a statement in December calling on Tajikistan to release Mirsaidov and drop all charges against him.
Recall, the Sughd prosecutor’s office charges Khairullo Mirsaidov, the head of the Khujand KVN team, with embezzlement of 300,000 somoni (TJS) of state funds. This fact has reportedly been revealed during the preliminary investigation.
Khairullo Mirsaidov was put under custody on December 5 and charges of misappropriate of state funds (Article 245, Part 4 of Tajikistan’s Penal Code), inciting national racial, regional or religious enmity (Article 189, Part 2), document forgery (Article 340, Part 1) and false denunciation (Article 346, Part 2) were officially brought against him on December 8.
The charges brought against Mirsaidov carry up to a total of 21 years in prison under Tajikistan’s Penal Code.
Khairullo Mirsaidov in November last year applied to the President of Tajikistan, Prosecutor-General Yusuf Rahmon and Sughd Governor Abdurahmon Qodiri, asking them to pay attention to problems facing the Khujand-based KVN team because of some corrupt officials in the Sughd province. Mirsaidov publicly stated that Olim Zohidzoda, the head of the Sughd directorate for youth and sports affairs, demanded a US$1,000 bribe.
Mirsaidov failed to produce evidence to support his application against Zohidzoda. Zohidzoda has filed a counterclaim against Mirsaidov accusing him of defamation.
The journalist's father, Habibullo Mirsaidov, says his son denies the charges brought against him.
Mirsaidov is an independent journalist and a former correspondent of the Dushanbe-based Asia-Plus news agency and Germany's Deutsche Welle radio.
He is also the leader of the Tajik national KVN comedy team, a stand-up comedy competition which originated among university students in the Soviet Union and is still popular in many post-Soviet states.
