DUSHANBE, November 3, 2015, Asia-Plus – One more member of the Barristers’ Association “Sipar” has been detained on suspicion of fraud.
According to the Agency for State Financial Control and Combating Corruption, Ms. Dilbar Dodajonova was caught red-handed on October 26 while taking 5,800 U.S. dollars and 1,000 somoni from her client.
The lawyer reportedly demanded 10,000 U.S. dollars from her client promising to decide the case regarding a plot of land in his favor.
According to her, the money was intended for judges at the Supreme Court, the anticorruption agency’s website said.
Criminal proceedings have been instituted against Ms. Dodajonova under the provisions of Article 247 of Tajikistan’s Penal Code – large-scale fraud; an investigation is under way. She is currently on her own recognizance.
Meanwhile, Ms. Dodajonova is the third member of the Barristers’ Association “Sipar” to be detained over the past month.
Mr. Nouriddin Mahkamov, who has been defending the Islamic Revival Party (IRP) deputy leader Saidumar Husaini, was detained on October 23 on suspicion of fraud.
Besides, Mr. Buzurgmehr Yorov, who was defending several IRPT leading members who were arrested earlier in September on suspicion of leading a deadly mutiny by a serving deputy defense minister, was arrested on September 28. He is also suspected of fraud and forgery.
In an interview with a journalist published on September 28, Buzurgmehr Yorov explained that one of his clients, the IRP deputy leader Saidumar Husaini, told him he had been beaten and that his head was covered with a bag while he was being held by the Police Unit for Combating Organized Crime. The same police unit arrested Buzurgmehr Yorov.
The Supreme Court of Tajikistan ruled on September 29 that the IRP banned and shut down earlier this month should be included on a blacklist of extremist and terrorist organizations. The court”s decision forces the closure of the IRP”s
Najot
(Salvation) newspaper and bans the distribution of any video, audio, or printed materials related to the party”s activities.
