Nowruz celebrations for the Persian New Year this March gave no cause for rejoicing for Manuchehr Kholiknazarov and his family, as he remains behind bars serving a 16-year-long prison sentence in retaliation for his human rights work.
Today,
International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR); the World Organisation
against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (FIDH), both in the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders; Human Rights Watch (HRW); Helsinki Foundation
for Human Rights (HFHR); Norwegian Helsinki Committee (NHC); Frontline
Defenders; and Freedom Now call for the immediate and unconditional release of Manuchehr
Kholiknazarov.
“Manuchehr
is a prominent human rights lawyer, a fighter against injustice and
exceptional advocate for victims of human rights abuses – his conviction
is shameful and every day that he spends behind bars reflects even more
badly on the human rights record of Tajikistan". Brigitte Dufour, Director IPHR
On
9 December 2022 Tajikistan’s Supreme Court found Manuchehr
Kholiknazarov guilty under articles 187, part 2 (participation in a
criminal organisation) and 307 (3), part 2 (participating in the
activities of a banned organisation due to its extremist activities) of
the Criminal Code sentencing him to 16 years’ imprisonment in a strict
regime penal colony.
Manuchehr
Kholiknazarov is the Director of the Lawyers Association of Pamir
(LAP), one of the few civil society organisations in Tajikistan’s Gorno
Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) that works to promote and protect
human rights. As a member of several important platforms, such as the
Civil Society Coalition against Torture and Impunity, the Public Council
on Police Reform, and the Coalition on Housing Rights, Kholiknazarov
has helped countless victims of human rights violations and strengthened
rule of law and democratic structures in the GBAO. Furthermore,
Kholiknazarov and his organisation had been working for many years to
create a platform for dialogue between state bodies and civil society
institutions, where the most pressing problems of the region, including
in the field of human rights were discussed.
On
25-28 November 2021, mass protests erupted in Khorog, GBAO, over the
extrajudicial killing of a young man, Gulbiddin Ziyobekov. After the
protests settled, Kholiknazarov joined the "Commission 44", consisting
of representatives of local civil society and law enforcement agencies,
to investigate the events.[1]
Given his professional experience, he was included in the Joint
Investigation Team headed by the Prosecutor General’s Office. Despite
some criticism of its passive approach, the Joint Investigation Team
achieved some results, including the exhumation and re-examination of
Gulbiddin Ziyobekov’s body in December 2021. In addition to his role in
the Joint Investigation Team, Kholiknazarov worked with victims of
indiscriminate use of firearms by law enforcement during the protests,
and in March 2022 the Civil Society Coalition against Torture and
Impunity assigned four lawyers to work with the victims and their
relatives.
Yet,
all efforts to fight impunity for the November 2021 violence were
derailed in May 2022 amid a renewed crackdown on protests in Khorog and
Rushan District of GBAO.
On
28 May 2022, Kholiknazarov was arrested along with a dozen members of
Commission 44 for alleged “participation in a criminal association” and
“publicly calling for violent change of the constitutional order”. Their
trial began on 20 September 2022, and was held behind closed doors at a
detention facility of the State Committee for National Security (SCNS)
in Dushanbe.
On
21 October 2022, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights
Defenders issued a communication to the government of Tajikistan
expressing concern about the alleged arbitrary detention of
Kholiknazarov and his colleagues.
However,
despite all appeals, on 9 December 2022 the Supreme Court of Tajikistan
sentenced Manuchehr Kholiknazarov to 16 years in prison.
“For
many years, Manuchehr and his team from the Lawyers Association of
Pamir provided assistance to victims of human rights violations and
peacefully promoted human rights, the rule of law and access to justice
in GBAO. His detention is arbitrary and he must be released immediately
and unconditionally”. Gerald Staberock, Secretary General, OMCT
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