Tajikistan: authorities try to protect their lie with new law

The lower house of the Parliament of Tajikistan passed a bill that would allow to send people to jail for spreading infectious diseases, and fine the media and citizens for spreading false information about COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the bill, for the spread of the disease, citizens can receive a prison term of up to 5 years, and in the second case – up to 10 years. For going out without a protective mask, citizens will have to pay a fine of about $30.

At the same time, the media and citizens will also be fined for disseminating knowingly false information about the situation with the coronavirus. So, individuals will have to pay a fine of about $60, and the media – about $1200.

The bill still needs to be considered by the upper house of the Parliament, and it will come into force after signing by the President. However, heated discussions of the new law have already begun in Tajikistan.

The fact is that, according to the new law, any information that differs from official one will henceforth be considered unreliable. Thousands of active citizens, who daily report on new facts of death of citizens from COVID-19 through social networks, will be fined. The media will also be required to refer only to official sources, otherwise fines cannot be avoided.

Recall that the scandal, associated with the coronavirus pandemic in Tajikistan, began when the authorities didn’t recognize the presence of COVID-19 for a long time, although the media and civil society daily revealed the facts of disease and death of citizens. This confrontation continues to this day. Authorities say that only 48 people died of coronavirus in Tajikistan for the entire period, but according to alternative statistics, which are made by activists, who wrote down deaths by names, COVID-19 has already taken the lives of 429 citizens of the country. When publishing materials about the pandemic situation, many Tajik media used alternative statistics, but if the new law comes into force, the media will be fined for publishing these data.

Ordinary citizens may face even more severe sentences. They can be held liable just for like under any information on social networks that contradicts official data. This practice has been applied in Tajikistan for several years. So, thousands of citizens who liked the articles, religious videos that are prohibited in Tajikistan, were sent to jail. According to the amnesty at the end of 2019, about 500 citizens, who were convicted of likes on social networks, have been released from the country’s prisons.

However, not only the media and citizens, but also officials are engaged in revelations in the country. So on June 9, the administration of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast issued a statement according to which 22 people (aged 55 and over) died from a coronavirus during a pandemic in GBAO. Less than 3% of the Tajik population lives in GBAO, but 22 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health, make up 45% of deaths all across the country. At the same time, the Ministry of Health didn’t refute the statement of the GBAO’s administration, and the head of this oblast still continues to hold his post.

Thus, while mortality in Tajikistan amounted to 22 cases per 3% of the population, more than 730 people have died from COVID-19 in the country today.

At the end of May, the Minister of Health of Tajikistan made a statement that the peak of coronavirus’ prevalence of in the republic has been passed. However, on June 6, the Acting Permanent Representative of WHO in Tajikistan, Bahtygul Karryeva, actually refuted the words of the Tajik Minister, saying that the peak of the pandemic has not yet been passed in either Tajikistan or other neighboring countries.

On June 9, the UN made an even louder statement in its report concerning the situation in Tajikistan. A published document said that more than 1700 medical workers in Tajikistan have become infected with COVID-19 since the epidemic outbreak.

“On June 8, the number of infected medical workers was 36% of the total number of cases in the country, including 619 doctors and 548 nurses,” the report says.

According to alternative statistics from activists, today in Tajikistan, 67 medical workers have died from coronavirus.

This is due to the fact that the authorities didn’t provide protective equipment to health workers, despite the country received the huge batches of humanitarian aid from different countries. Recall that ACCA previously wrote about the numerous facts of the sale, theft, and appropriation of humanitarian aid by the relatives of the President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon.