Dozens of participants of a spontaneous rally that took place outside the Tajik Embassy in Moscow have been detained for several hours. They were charged with participation in an authorized rally.
The spontaneous rally was reportedly held in support of human rights activist Izzat Amon, who was deported from Russia for illegal labor activity in the Russian Federation and was arrested after landing in Dushanbe in the morning of March 27.
According to video, sent by the rally participants to the Russian independent TC Channel Dozhd (Rain), the demonstrators demanded the immediate release of Izzat Amon. They chanted the slogan “Russia, protect your citizens.”
`The exact number of detained demonstrators is unknown. RBK reports about 100 detainees. About 400 people reportedly participated in the rally. “Most of the detainees were released, some were left for the night,” a source told RBK. All of them are charged with participation in unauthorized demonstration
Migrants who took part in the rally face sanctions under the Russian Code of Administrative Violations, including fine, arrest, or deportation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_dygKaBDu4
Recall, Russian authorities on March 25 detained Amon and forcibly returned him to Tajikistan, where he faces charges of fraud in connection to his work in Moscow.
Tajik law enforcement authorities accuse Izzat Amon of a large-scale fraud (Article 247 (4) of Tajikistan’s Penal Code). According to a statement released by the Interior Ministry of Tajikistan, Izzat Amon has been deported from the Russian Federation for non-compliance with the rules of stay in the Russian Federation and illegal acquisition of Russian citizenship.
The statement, in particular, says that Izzat Amon (Izzat Kholov) has fraudulently appropriated large sums of money of dozens of people in Russia under the pretext of protecting the rights of citizens of Tajikistan and Tajik labor migrants working in the Russian Federation.
“We ask persons affected by Izzat Kholov’s fraud to call the Interior Ministry’s hotline: 221-21-21,” the statement says.
According to the website of the Tverskoy District Court of Moscow, Izzat Amon (Izzat Kholov) is accused violating Article 18.10. of Russia’s Administrative Code – illegal employment by a foreign citizen or a stateless person in the Russian Federation. The court also deprived him of his Russian citizenship.
Izzat Amon was born in the Roudaki District in 1973. He graduated from the Faculty of Economics at Tajik National University.
According to Izzat Amon himself, he has lived in Moscow since the early 2000s. In 2009, he reportedly graduated from the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation and in 2013, Izzat Amon completed a postgraduate course at the Russian Academy for Public Service (RAGS).
Currently he reportedly works as a lawyer with the International Law Office in Moscow and heads the Center for Tajiks of Moscow.
Amon is not a member of a Tajik opposition party, although he did recently criticize Tajikistan’s government.
In Moscow, Amon offered the sorts of services to Tajik migrant laborers that even Tajik officials say are needed. Also known as Izzat Kholov, Amon has lived in Russia since 1996, when he obtained his Russian citizenship.
In 2000, he moved to Moscow and helped establish the Center for Tajiks of Moscow — an organization that has helped Tajik citizens properly register with Russian authorities, as well as to find places to live and work. Amon’s organization has also helped Tajiks facing legal issues in Russia.
According to RFE/RL, Steve Swerdlow, an attorney and associate professor of human rights at the University of Southern California, says the targeting of Amon by Tajik and Russian authorities violates several binding international human rights commitments made by each country. That includes a prohibition on returning a person to a country where they are likely to face torture, as well as arbitrarily depriving an individual of their citizenship.
