DUSHANBE, December 22, 2014, Asia-Plus – Ms. Nadezhda Atayeva, the leader of the Association for Human Rights in Central Asia (AHRCA), says that Umarali Qavvatov, the leader of the Tajik opposition organization Group 24, was arrested in Istanbul on December 19.
The Moscow-based defense lawyer of Nikolai Nikolayev has confirmed this information on his Facebook page.
Tajik national Umarali Quvvatov is reportedly waiting for the UNHRC decision on granting refugee status to him.
Tajik Prosecutor-General Office accuses Mr. Quvvatov of embezzling 6 million somoni (equivalent to more than 1.26 million U.S. dollars) while Quvvatov says the accusations leveled against him are unfounded.
The Association for Human Rights in Central Asia calls on the Turkish authorities to fulfill requirements of the UN Refugee Convention and the UN Convention against Torture and to observe the procedural norms of Turkey’s legislation, in particular providing defense attorney.
AHRCA has also sent information about the detention of Group 24 leader Umarali Quvvatov and its activists Husein Ashourov, Suhrob Tourayev and Abdurahsid Homidov to the Turkish MFA, UNHCR Office in Turkey, the UNHCR Headquarters in Geneva, Amnesty International (AI) and other international human rights watchdogs.
We will recall that Tajikistan”s Supreme Court banned the opposition organization Group 24 on October 9 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.
Supreme Court judge Salomat Hakimova ruled that Group 24 is “extremist” and therefore is banned in Tajikistan. Its website and printed materials were also banned.
Umarali Quvvatov first made headlines in the summer of 2012 when he fled Tajikistan for Moscow. There he formed an organization called Group 24, which he claims is a new political movement opposed to incumbent President Rahmon.
On December 23, 2012, Quvvatov was arrested in Dubai at the request of Tajik authorities. He has been accused of illegally obtaining about $1.2 million through fraudulent business activities. Quvvatov denounced the fraud case against him and accused Tajik President Emomali Rahmon of running a “totalitarian regime.” In an open letter smuggled out of the detention center, Umarali Quvvatov said the accusations leveled against him were “a direct consequence” of his battle against the “oppression of the Tajik people” by Rahmon”s government. Quvvatov was released from the detention center in Dubai on September 26, 2013.
