The Supreme Court of Tajikistan sentenced five relatives of Said Abdullo Nuri, the late former leader of the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (banned in Tajikistan) and the United Tajik Opposition (during the years of civil strife), to various prison terms.
Nurullo Saidov (Nuri’s younger brother) and Mukhibullo Saidov (one of his nephews) were sentenced to five and a half years in prison. Nusratullo Saidov (his second nephew) was sentenced to five years in prison. Sayvali Rizoev and Zukhurbek Khojaev were sentenced to six months in prison.
At the circuit trial in the city of Bokhtar, which was held behind closed doors, only the lawyers of the convicts were present. According to Radio Ozodi, all the accused were provided with state lawyers, and their relatives were not allowed to enter the courtroom until the verdict was announced. After that, the relatives were allowed to talk with the convicts before they were sent to the pre-trial detention center.
The authorities didn’t comment on the cases and the sentences, but the relatives say they were found guilty of receiving ‘illegal funds from abroad’.
The brother of Said Abdullo Nuri, Abubakr Nuri, who lives in Germany, immediately after the detention of his brother, Nurullo Saidov, stated that the allegedly illegal receipt of financial assistance from abroad was just a pretext for detaining his relatives and all criminal cases were politically motivated. “Nurullo’s relatives really live abroad and send money to their families. By the way, this is how hundreds of thousands of Tajik migrants, who work in Russia, do it,” Abubakr Nuri said.
One of the convicts, Nusratullo Saidov, worked as the head of the dekhkan farm “Istiklol”. After information appeared that he had helped a family with a disabled person in Vakhsh region, he was detained. According to Nurmakhmad Saidov, Nusratullo’s brother, four workers of the dekhkan farm were also interrogated, who were asked about the sources of funds to help the disabled person. “They were asked about the possibility of obtaining money illegally from abroad,” Nurmakhmad Saidov said after his brother was detained.
Relatives of the convicts, living abroad, don’t deny the fact of sending money to their families, but they say that there is nothing illegal in this and the recipients shouldn’t be punished. According to them, the families of the convicts need help because of unemployment, as well as because of the confiscation of part of their property.
In Tajikistan, in accordance with the current legislation on combating terrorism, the list of persons associated with terrorism is updated annually. This list was first compiled by the National Bank of Tajikistan in 2017. It includes the names of civil activists and supporters of the banned IRPT and the movement “Group 24” living outside the country. Cooperation with these persons, including financial, is prohibited.
In recent years, courts in Tajikistan have sentenced several people to prison terms for receiving money transfers from the Tajik opposition abroad.
In 2020, the District Court of Ismoili Somoni sentenced Asroriddin (the son of Zubaydullo Rozik, an imprisoned member of the banned IRPT) to five years in prison.
At the end of the same year, 80-year-old Doniyor Nabiev, a resident of Rudaki district, was sentenced to seven years in prison on charges of extremism. An old man was found guilty of receiving money from activists of the banned IRPT and transferring it to the families of convicted members of the Islamic party. The detention and imprisonment of Doniyor Nabiev caused criticism by international human rights organizations. On April 23, 2021, the authorities were forced to release the old man from the colony.
