On May 13, the trial of the well-known Tajik blogger and MMA fighter Chorshanbe Chorshanbiev quickly ended with the announcement of a sentence of 8.5 years in a high security colony. The state prosecutor demanded 10 years in prison for him.
Chorshanbiev was found guilty of publicly calling for violent change of the constitutional order in Tajikistan.
The court, which was supposed to be held in an open format, was actually ‘closed’ for journalists and the public and took place in the building of the pre-trial detention center. Even the relatives of the defendant were not allowed to hear the verdict, and the lawyers were able to enter the hall only when the judge read out the verdict.
Earlier the lawyers of Ch. Chorshanbiev petitioned for the appointment of a criminal case in the courtroom of Somoni district of Dushanbe, emphasizing that the consideration of the case by the court in an open format is one of the main guarantees of the right to a fair trial. However, the court of Somoni district considered that, in accordance with the requirements of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Tajikistan, the case would be considered in open court, but in the hall of the pre-trial detention center, motivating such a decision by the fact that the case is widely covered in the media and that there is a possibility of a large number of citizens gathering in the building of the district court and these factors may prevent the correct and timely consideration of the case.
Chorshanbiev lived in Russia in recent years and competed in professional mixed martial arts. Due to traffic violations, he was fined and deported from Russia on the night of December 30, 2021. In Dushanbe, he was detained right at the gangway of the plane. The reason for the detention of Chorshanbiev was his video message on social networks in connection with the protests in Khorog on November 25, which occurred due to the murder of 29-year-old Gulbiddin Ziyobekov during the operation of the security forces. “I am not a politician, I am not an oppositionist, I am a person who observes injustice and doesn’t turn a blind eye to it. I want to appeal to the whole world, but mainly to the people of Tajikistan. How long can we endure? How long do you close your eyes? I call to rise up against injustice, the unjust death of innocent people,” he said in his video message.
The criminal case against Ch. Chorshanbiev was initiated on December 30, 2021. On January 27, 2022, the investigator announced the end of the investigation and the transfer of the case to court.
