Human rights defender Abdulmajid Rizoev released

On 18 May 2023, the Tajikistani authorities released human rights defender and lawyer Abdulmajid Rizoev from a high-security prison in Khujand, Tajikistan. On 14 June 2021, the Shokhmansur District Court of Dushanbe sentenced Abdulmajid Rizoev to five years and six months’ imprisonment for "public calls for the performance of an extremist activity made using the mass media or the Internet" under Part 2, Article 307.1 of the Criminal Code of Tajikistan. The Prosecutor identified some of the human rights defender’s Facebook posts from 2019 and 2020 as "hidden calls for extremism."

In total, the human rights defender spent two and a half years in a high-security prison in Khudjand and, in September 2021, he qualified for an amnesty. During his detention, the human rights defender was placed in high-security solitary confinement, which has impacted his physical and mental health. Upon his release, Abdulmajid Rizoev’s documents, including his passport, military ID and driver's license, were not returned to him. The only document that now confirms the identity of the human rights defender is his certificate of release. He also reported that the authorities didn’t return any of the equipment or documents that were confiscated upon his arrest.

On 11 August 2021, the Dushanbe City Court rejected the cassation appeal to review Abdulmajid Rizoev’s case, which the human rights defender’s lawyer applied for on 16 July 2021. On 14 June 2021, human rights defender Abdulmajid Rizoev was sentenced to 5 years and 6 months’ imprisonment for “public calls for performance of an extremist activity made using the mass media or the Internet” under Part 2, Article 307.1 of the Criminal Code of Tajikistan. The human rights defender has been detained in centre No.1 in Dushanbe since his arrest on 18 November 2020.

Prior to his detention Abdulmajid Rizoev had been working as a legal representative for the residents of a house in the centre of Dushanbe, who had been evicted by the construction company “Pulodi Plaza” carrying out the demolition work of the house. Abdulmajid Rizoev has reportedly received numerous threats from individuals associated with the construction company, and the day before the human rights defender was arrested, the construction company filed a legal complaint against him, alleging that his activities were obstructing the company’s work. Abdulmajid Rizoev’s lawyer filed a complaint to the Court regarding the facts of the human rights defender’s persecution.

On 14 June 2021, the Shokhmansur District Court of Dushanbe sentenced human rights defender Abdulmajid Rizoev to 5 years and 6 months’ imprisonment for “public calls for performance of an extremist activity made using the mass media or the Internet” under Part 2, Article 307.1 of the Criminal Code of Tajikistan. The charges are based on some of his Facebook posts from 2019 and 2020, which the Prosecutor identified as “hidden calls for extremism.” Abdumajid Rizoev’s Facebook posts were subjected to three examinations on 17 November 2020, 12 January 2021 and 7 May 2021. The last examination was the only one conducted by linguistic experts, after Abdulmajid Rizoev’s lawyer submitted a petition for additional examination. However, the experts of the third examination didn’t describe how the human rights defender’s posts connected to extremism in their conclusion.

On 11 August 2021, the Dushanbe City Court rejected the cassation appeal, which the Abdumajid Rizoev’s lawyer applied for on 16 July 2021, to review the Shokhmansur District Court of Dushanbe’s decision regarding the human rights defender’s case, and to drop the charges against human rights defender. During the cassation hearing, Abdulmajid Rizoev and his lawyer presented their opinions, after which the panel of judges convened for 10 minutes and came back with a resolution to reject the cassation appeal. The human rights defender's lawyer is planning to write a supervisory complaint after receiving an official decision from the cassation collegium.

Front Line Defenders is deeply concerned by the sentencing of Abdulmajid Rizoev and the rejection of his lawyer’s appeal. Front Line Defenders believes that he is being targeted solely as a result of his legitimate and peaceful human rights work helping residents in Dushanbe, whose rights were violated by the construction company. Front Line Defenders considers the charges against Abdulmajid Rizoev a clear misuse of anti-extremist legislation, aimed at the prosecution and deterrence of human rights defenders’ and lawyers’ work in Tajikistan.

Human rights defender Abdulmajid Rizoev is currently facing trial on accusations of “public calls for performance of an extremist activity made using the mass media or the Internet” in relation to his work providing legal defense for residents in Dushanbe who have been evicted from their homes due to a new construction project taking place in the city. If convicted, the human rights defender could face up to 10 years’ imprisonment. Abdulmajid Rizoev is currently being held at the detention centre #1 in Dushanbe.

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Abdulmajid Rizoev is a human rights defender and a lawyer, and was formerly a member of the Association of Young Lawyers “Amparo”, which was forcibly dissolved in 2012. As part of his human rights work, Abdulmajid Rizoev has been monitoring human rights violations occurring within the Tajikistan military during conscription and military service, and providing legal consultation to conscripts and soldiers, including those who have been subjected to physical and psychological abuse as new recruits in the army. In recent years, he has also been actively involved in defending the rights of residents in Dushanbe whose homes are to be demolished due to new construction projects underway. The defender provides the residents with legal representation, lodges complaints on their behalf and informs them of their rights to compensation and resettlement.

On 8 February 2021, the first hearing in the trial against Abdulmajid Rizoev took place before the Shokhmansur District Court. The human rights defender has been accused of “public calls for performance of an extremist activity made using the mass media or the Internet” under Part 2, Article 307.1 of the Criminal Code of Tajikistan. During the trial, the prosecution has alleged that some of the human rights defender’s posts and reposts on Facebook amount to “extremist” activity. Two posts have been cited in particular, two of which were made in March 2020. In one, Abdulmajid Rizoev claimed that of the people he interviewed following the parliamentary elections, 25% took part in the elections and 75% did not, and in the other post, the defender mocked a plaque outside a polling station, which stated that “participation in the elections is a sign of political intelligence”. Reference was also made to another post and repost from April 2019, in which the defender claimed that the Tajik people are unduly placed in conditions of obligations to the authorities, and an old poem in which a father says that his son became a man and achieved everything, but did not achieve humanity. The poem is regularly aired on local TV stations.

On 18 November 2020, Abdulmajid Rizoev was detained at his office in Dushanbe and was then transferred to a temporary detention facility. His whereabouts were not known until the following morning, when the residents he had been assisting at the time of his arrest contacted Abdulmajid Rizoev’s wife and informed her that he had been detained the previous day. Prior to his arrest, he had been working as a legal representative for the residents of a house in the center of Dushanbe, who had been evicted by the construction company carrying out the demolition works. Some of the residents were still living in the apartments when the construction company, which is associated with the authorities, began the demolition. The day before Abdumajid Rizoev was arrested, the construction company filed a legal complaint against him, alleging that his activities were obstructing the company’s work.

Before his arrest, Abdulmajid Rizoev wrote an appeal to the mayor of Dushanbe, who is also the Chairman of the Parliament of National Assembly of Tajikistan and the son of the president of the country. In his appeal, the human rights defender alleged that the construction company’s activities were not in compliance with the relevant law regarding the requirements for the demolition of a residential building, the procedure for compensating residents, and alleged that the construction company was engaged in corruption. Abdulmajid Rizoev also filed complaints to the Committee for Architecture and Construction, the Prosecutor's Office of the Shokhmansur District and to the Court of the Shokhmansur District.

Abdulmajid Rizoev has reportedly received numerous threats from individuals associated with the construction company and the prosecutors for the case. During the trial, the human rights defender told the court that the had been offered $25,000 USD in an envelope by a director and lawyer of the construction company so that he would cease “interfering” with their business. When the defender refused, he was reportedly told that half of the money in the envelope would be given to the “right people” and they would put him in jail.

Previously, Abdulmajid Rizoev was forcibly sent to serve military service, following his filing of a complaint to the Military Prosecutor's office on the forcible detention and conscription of young men, which he had captured on video. After completing 12 months of military service, the defender returned to his human rights work and worked as a lawyer, providing legal representation in cases of alleged human rights violations.

Front Line Defenders is deeply concerned by the accusations against Abdulmajid Rizoev and believes that he is being targeted solely as a result of his legitimate and peaceful human rights work. Front Line Defenders considers the accusations against Abdulmajid Rizoev a clear misuse of anti-extremist legislation aimed at the prosecution and deterrence of human rights defenders’ work in Tajikistan.