A brief statement released by the Interior Ministry on February 15 says the leader of political opposition movement called “Reforms and Development in Tajikistan”, Sharofiddin Gadoyev has voluntarily returned to Dushanbe.
The ministry said Gadoyev, who has been living in self-imposed exile in the Netherlands for the last several years, arrived in Dushanbe via Moscow on February 15.
According to the statement, Gadoyev is sorry for his deeds and decided to return home voluntarily. “May the misdeeds I have committed be evaluated in accordance with the laws of the Republic of Tajikistan," the ministry quoted Gadoyev as saying.
Gadoyev reportedly also called on other Tajik nationals wanted in Tajikistan to return home.
Sharofiddin Gadoyev has been wanted in Tajikistan since 2013 on suspicion of smuggling and document forgery.
In March 2015, Gadoyev was elected as the leader of Group 24, days after its founding leader and Gadoyev's cousin, Umarali Quvvatov, was shot dead in Istanbul, Turkey.
The Tajik authorities banned Group 24 as extremist after it called on Tajiks to participate in antigovernment protests in Dushanbe in 2014.
At least three people were sentenced to lengthy prison terms in Tajikistan in 2015 after being convicted of belonging to Group 24.
After the split in Group 24, Gadoyev created a new movement in the Netherlands called “Reforms and Development in Tajikistan.”
He said at the time that his new movement's goal was to establish a "free and democratic society in Tajikistan."
The movement became member of the National Alliance of Tajikistan, which is led Muhiddin Kabiri, the chairman of the banned Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan.
The National Alliance of Tajikistan is an opposition coalition consisting of four Tajik dissident parties and organizations: the Forum of Tajik Freethinkers, the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT), the Association of Central Asian Migrants, and the People's Movement "Reforms and Development in Tajikistan".
The Alliance reportedly represents a broad section of Tajik society, including secular and traditional figures, and is based in Poland.
