Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reported on October 5 that a court in Dushanbe has sentenced Nizomiddin Nasriddinov, a former activist of the Group 24 opposition movement, to 8 ½ years in prison on a charge of making public calls to forcibly change Tajikistan's constitutional order.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a person involved in the trial told RFE/RL on October 5 that a court in Dushanbe’s Ismoili Somoni district pronounced the verdict and sentence of Nasriddinov on September 29, adding that the former activist pleaded not guilty.
Court officials and Nasriddinov’s relatives refused to comment, while the court asked RFE/RL to send an official letter asking for comment.
Last month, the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, Human Rights Watch, Freedom for Eurasia, and Freedom Now demanded that Tajik authorities drop the "trumped-up" charges against Nasriddinov and immediately release the former activist.
Belarusian authorities detained Nasriddinov at Dushanbe's request in January when he entered Belarus from Lithuania. They then extradited him to Tajikistan in July.
Nasriddinov was wanted in Tajikistan on a charge of calling for extremist actions, which right groups call unfounded.
Nasriddinov had resided in Germany since October 2015. The German authorities reportedly granted asylum to him and his family.
Tajikistan’s Supreme Court banned Tajikistan’s opposition organization Group 24 on October 9, 2014 following growing government pressure on the opposition group after it used the Internet to call for street protests in the capital, Dushanbe, on October 10, 2014.
Supreme Court ruled that Group 24 is an extremist organization, and therefore, it is banned in Tajikistan. Its website and printed materials were also banned.
In February 2019, former members of the opposition movement Group 24, who returned to Tajikistan, asked the Tajik authorities to remove the organization from the extremist organizations list. They said the organization does not pose threat to Tajikistan’s security anymore.
Dozens of opposition figures, independent journalists, and rights activists have been handed lengthy prison terms on extremism and other charges in Tajikistan in recent years.
