Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service, known locally as Radio Ozodi, reported on April 29 that Amriddin Alovatshoyev, who is considered leader of the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) youth in Russia, has got a lengthy jail term.
A reliable source told Radio Ozodi that the trail reportedly began at the Dushanbe-based pretrial detention facility No 1 on April 29 at 2:00 and ended the same day evening.
Amriddin Alovatshoyev was sentenced to 18 years in prison and he will serve his term in a high-security penal colony.
Defense lawyers were reportedly informed too late about the beginning of the trial.
Another source, who wanted to remain unnamed, told Radio Ozodi that Alovatshoyev had allegedly pleaded guilty.
There is no information on what articles he was found guilty of and sentenced to.
Alovatshoyev’s relatives were reportedly not allowed into the courtroom.
Recall, Alovatshoyev was extradited to Tajikistan earlier this year. He was charged with hostage taking, illegal depriving others of their freedom, and other crimes that his relatives call trumped-up.
Alovatshoyev went incommunicado on January 11 and media reports said that he.was detained in the Russian city of Belgorod at the Tajik authorities’ request.
In early February, Tajik authorities said Alovatshoyev was extradited to Dushanbe. The developments around him coincided with Tajik prosecutors' decision to launch a new probe into four days of demonstrations in Khorog, the GBAO’s capital, that left two people killed and at least 17 others injured in November 2021.
The protests in the region broke out on November 25 after security forces killed a local man wanted on charges of kidnapping.
On February 12, Tajik national television broadcast a video of Alovatshoyev "confessing" to unspecified crimes. His supporters have insisted that he was under duress when the video was recorded.
