“Fighting” against corruption by means of torture
In Tajikistan, the lawyer was illegally detained and tortured to throw a bribe to a court employee, and when the operation failed, a criminal case was opened against the lawyer himself.
“On April 9, 2019, near the building of the Varzob District Court, the lawyer Abdulaziz Abdurakhmonzoda asked Saidmurod Saidov to provide legal assistance in a civil case for damages,” the Independent Center for the Protection of Human Rights of Tajikistan reports.
“By verbal agreement, for $150 I agreed to do the necessary legal documents and participate as a lawyer in the court of first instance, and for $500 – to participate in all other judicial instances up to the execution of the court’s decision,” the lawyer said.
According to him, a week later, on April 17, Saidmurod Saidov, who applied for a legal aid agreement, arrived at his capital’s office and brought $500. “Saidov quickly left the room, and at that moment about 20-25 people entered my office, introduced themselves as operational officers of the Financial Control and Anti-Corruption Agency of Tajikistan,” the lawyer said.
According to Abdurahmonzoda, after his detention, operatives, including Adham Nazarzoda and Sayvali Khushvaktzoda, broke his tooth and brutally beat him in the advocatory office.
“After the beating, the operatives forced me to write a statement,” Abdulaziz Abdurahmonzoda notes, “that I took the sum of $500 for subsequent transfer to the court employee Shahzod Nuralizoda. Under physical oppression, I was forced to fulfill their requirements. Under their dictation, I wrote the statement, signed it, and together we went to the Varzob court.”
Abdulaziz Abdurahmonzoda claims that according to the idea of the operatives who had beaten him, he should not have transferred the money, but planted them into the table of the court officer, as they suspect him of corruption.
“In the office of the court employee, I did not plant money, but said that I brought the amount requested by him concerning Saidov’s case. Judge Nuralizoda, suspecting something wrong, answered that he hadn’t asked anyone for money and left the office. So, on April 17, the operation to detain the employee of the Varzob court was frustrated. For a long time, the operatives of the Anti-corruption Agency indicated that I was going through the case as an active witness, and at the end of May I was charged with fraud,” the lawyer said.
So, according to Abdulaziz Abdurahmonzoda, under physical oppression and the use of torture, as well as the threat of destroying the originals of the previously signed Agreement of legal assistance to Saidmurod Saidov, the criminal case fabricated against him was sent to the court.
“In connection with the use of torture and cruel treatment against me, I addressed for legal assistance to the NGO of a member of the Coalition against Torture and Impunity in Tajikistan,” said Abdurahmonzoda.
By a court decision from July 22, 2019, the criminal case was suspended and a part of the case files was sent to the Dushanbe prosecutor’s office to clarify the circumstances of the use of torture against Abdulaziz Abdurahmonzoda during the preliminary investigation.
As it turned out, the day after the torture, Abdulaziz Abdurahmonzoda had the examination, and after that the medicolegal report was made.
According to this act, his sixth right tooth was broken, there were bruises, hematomas, indicating blunt injuries.
The defense side of Abdulaziz Abdurakhmonzoda appealed to the Tajik Prosecutor General’s Office to institute criminal proceedings against employees of the Agency for Financial Control and Anti-corruption drive.
On August 7, a hearing was scheduled concerning the case of Abdulaziz Abdurahmonzoda. However, due to the non-appearance of the participants in the process, the meeting was postponed to another day.
ACCA will monitor the information about this case.
