Amnesty International Report 2000 - Tajikistan

Head of state: Imomali Rakhmonov
Head of government: Akil Akilov (replaced Yakhyo Azimov in December)
Capital: Dushanbe
Population: 6 million
Official language: Tajik
Death penalty: retentionist
1999 treaty ratifications/signatures: International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and its (first) Optional Protocol; International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

Members of opposition parties were harassed and intimidated by the authorities. The death penalty continued to be imposed. At least 15 death sentences and two executions came to light, although the true figures were believed to be far higher.

Background

A constitutional referendum was held in September which increased the powers of the president and allowed religion-based political parties to operate.

Presidential elections were held in November, after a last-minute compromise with the opposition United Tajik Opposition (UTO). President Imomali Rakhmonov was re-elected with a massive majority, although opposition parties claimed widespread voter fraud. Of the initial three opposition candidates, two were excluded from the ballot by the Supreme Court in October. The third, Davlat Usmon of the Islamic Renaissance Party, asked for his name to be withdrawn, but it appeared on the ballot paper despite his refusal to run.

After the October Supreme Court ruling denying Saifiddin Turaev of the Party of Justice and Sulton Kuvvatov of the Democratic Party (Tehran Platform) registration as presidential candidates, the UTO withdrew from the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC), the body responsible for implementing the 1997 peace accord between the government and the UTO which formally ended more than five years of civil war in Tajikistan. This withdrawal effectively suspended the peace process. Hours before the election took place, opposition leader Sayed Abdullo Nuri lifted his movement's boycott of the election in exchange for the release of 93 prisoners held since the civil war and key concessions ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for 2000. The UTO rejoined the NRC and at least 18 UTO supporters on the list of 93 were released before the end of 1999.

The work of opposition political parties was impeded and obstructed throughout 1999. The Agrarian Party and the National Unity Party were banned, and other political parties were denied registration. Members of political parties were charged by the government with breaches of the Law on Political Parties, and reportedly faced threats and harassment by the authorities.

Restrictions on the news media continued. Independent journalists suffered harassment, intimidation and violence. Independent newspapers faced arbitrary refusals to print by government-owned printing presses, and no independent radio stations were licensed to operate.

Political violence, including abductions and killings, continued at a high rate throughout 1999. Among those killed in 1999, apparently for political reasons, were Tolib Boboev, former deputy procurator general, Safarali Kenjaev, chairman of the Socialist Party of Tajikistan and chairman of the Supreme Council Committee for Legislation and Human Rights, and Jumakhona Khotami, an official of the Ministry of the Interior.

Death penalty

The death penalty continued to be imposed. The Criminal Code of the former Soviet Republic of Tajikistan contains 15 offences which carry a possible death sentence.

Death sentences

At least 15 people were sentenced to death during 1999.

• On 26 March the Supreme Court sentenced three members of the UTO to death for the murder of three members of the UN Mission of Observers to Tajikistan (UNMOT) in July 1998. The UN Secretary-General appealed for the death sentences to be commuted.
• On 22 June the Supreme Court sentenced to death two former politicians accused of having participated in a coup attempt in August 1997 led by the former Popular Front commander and warlord Makhmud Khudoyberdiyev. It was feared that former parliamentary deputy Sherali Mirzoyev and former deputy governor of Khatlon province Kosym Babayev had been sentenced to death without right of appeal.
• Makhmud Nadzhmiddinov, Abdumannon Kholmudminov and Yurabek Ravshanov were sentenced to death in late December by Khatlon Regional Court for crimes which included terrorism, murder and smuggling of weapons. Davlatali Husenov and J. Khojayev were also sentenced to death by the Khatlon Regional Court after they were convicted of organizing an illegal armed group and other crimes which included murder, robbery and rape. They were reportedly followers of Makhmud Khudoyberdiyev and were convicted of involvement in acts of political violence that took place in November 1998 in Qurghonteppa, the regional centre of the southern Khatlon Region, and in the northern Leninabad Region.

Executions

Two executions came to light in 1999, although the true figure was believed to be higher. News of these executions seemed to confirm that a reported de facto moratorium on executions was no longer in place in Tajikistan.

• Unofficial sources reported that Bakhrom Sodirov, the brother of warlord Rezvon Sodirov, was executed at the end of January 1999. Bakhrom Sodirov was sentenced to death in October 1998 for organizing the kidnapping of members of UNMOT in December 1996 and in February 1997. Although the execution was not publicly confirmed by the Tajik authorities, AI was informed that the prosecutor general acknowledged in March that he had sent a written account of the execution to the President.
• Unofficial sources reported in April that Abdulkhafiz Abdullayev, the younger brother of the former Prime Minister and leader of the Khujand-based opposition National Revival Bloc, Abdumalik Abdullojonov, had been executed at the end of November 1998, despite earlier reports that his petition for clemency was rejected only at the end of December 1998. Abdulkhafiz Abdullayev was sentenced to death in March 1998 after a reportedly unfair trial for his alleged involvement in an attempt to assassinate President Rakhmonov in April 1997. Abdulkhafiz Abdullayev was suffering from terminal cancer and there was widespread concern that he was denied adequate medical care in detention.