On May 30, the President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon dismissed Khomidjon Muhammadzoda, Chairman of the City Court of Khujand. According to the state news agency “Khovar”, Muhammadzoda was relieved in connection with the commission of an act discrediting the honor and dignity of a judge. With the same wording, Rustam Makhmadsaidzoda (a judge of the City Court of Khujand) and Rakhmiddin Rakhimzoda (a judge of the Sino District Court of Dushanbe) lost their positions.
Rumors that the Chairman of the City Court of Khujand was detained together with a judge and a lawyer have been disturbing local residents for a month now. It was rumored that the Chairman even managed to escape during the operation to detain him, carried out by the Anti-Corruption Agency. Muhammadzoda allegedly found out about the operation of the Anti-Corruption Agency, and handed over the marked money, which was given to him as a bribe, to the judge of the same court, and fled. The operation was carried out by employees of the Agency for Financial Control and Combating Corruption on April 22.
Khomidjon Muhammadzoda was appointed Chairman of the City Court of Khujand on November 25, 2021. He already held this position from 1996 to 2000. In the past, he also served as Chairman of the District Court of Bobojon Gafurov, Chairman of the Regional Court of Sughd, Chairman of the District Court of Jabbor Rasulov and Chairman of the District Court of Spitamen. Muhammadzoda was awarded the qualified rank of judge of the first class. He was awarded the Order “Sharaf”.
This is not the first high-profile detention of judges. In December 2019, Rahmon dismissed Yodgorzoda Nargis Yunusi, Chairman of the City Court of Guliston (Sughd region) from his post in connection with an act that discredits the honor and dignity of a judge. In June 2020, Chairman of the Court of Ayni Sharaf Tursunzoda was dismissed with the same wording.
In November 2019, speaking at the meeting with the judiciary in the city of Dushanbe, the President of the country said that over the past ten years, “25 judges (including 1 woman) and 16 court staff have been convicted of committing crimes of a corruption nature.” In the period that has passed since that meeting, 10 more judges and court employees have been added to this group, against whom criminal cases have been initiated and an investigation is underway.
In Tajikistan, there are more than 480 judges in the judiciary, and at the same time, according to the population, the court is considered one of the most corrupt authorities. The appointment and dismissal of judges in the country is the prerogative of President Rahmon. According to experts, under such a system, the judiciary in the republic cannot be independent, and judges will primarily protect the interests of the executive branch of government, and not stand guard over the rule of law.
“The fact that, in accordance with the constitutional principle of the division of state power into legislative, executive and judicial, judges have immunity and enjoy it. This has a positive effect, but not in the conditions of our state. So, the same Chairman of the Court in Ayni district was repeatedly detained for bribes, but each time he managed to avoid punishment,” says a lawyer from Dushanbe, who agreed, on condition of anonymity, to comment on the situation with the detention of judges. “But if a presidential decree is issued to dismiss a judge from office in connection with an act that discredits the honor and dignity of a judge, this means that a criminal case will be opened against him and taken to court. What sentence will be against the guilty judge? Under what article? It will be a deep dark secret. The first program of judicial and legal reform in Tajikistan was adopted in 2007. Now, the fifth program is being prepared in the country. However, residents of the country practically don’t feel any real benefit from successfully implemented reforms. In sociological surveys, this institution of power is always in the first place in matters of the spread of corruption.”
