Amnesty International Report 2005 - Tajikistan

Covering events from January - December 2004

At least four men were executed in secret, days before a moratorium on death sentences and executions took effect from 30 April. The location of graves of executed prisoners remained secret, thus subjecting the relatives to continued cruel and inhuman treatment. Reports of torture and ill-treatment by police, and of impunity for such violations, continued.

Background

Many independent journalists alleged harassment and intimidation by the authorities and that the perpetrators enjoyed impunity. The publication of several independent newspapers was suspended, allegedly for political reasons.

The European Union and Tajikistan signed a Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) in October which included a commitment to cooperate in the protection of human rights. In addition, an Interim Agreement on trade and trade-related matters was signed pending the ratification of the PCA.

Russia opened a military base in Tajikistan in October.

Torture, ill-treatment and impunity

AI continued to receive reports of torture and ill-treatment, including in cases of alleged Islamists. In a large majority of cases there were allegedly no thorough and impartial investigations conducted and the perpetrators enjoyed impunity. The death penalty moratorium was particularly welcome in this respect as torture and ill-treatment, including to extract "confessions", had in many cases played a crucial role in cases resulting in death sentences.

• Vladimir Vasilchikov, Viktor Dudenkov and Elena Dudenkova – Viktor Dudenkov's wife – all members of the Awakening Baptist Church in the town of Nurek, were believed to have been ill-treated by police at the local Department of Internal Affairs between 16 and 23 June. They had been summoned for investigations into the case of Vladimir Vasilchikov's mother, Mariya Vasilchikova, who was last seen in June 2002. While no formal charges were brought, police accused the two men of having killed her. Elena Dudenkova was reportedly insulted, forced to stand up for several hours and denied food and drink. The men, who consistently maintained their innocence, alleged they were pressurized into signing "confessions". Following complaints by both men to the General Procuracy, they were examined by doctors at the Republican Centre of Forensic Medicine in the capital, Dushanbe. On 25 June the doctors concluded that both men were suffering from concussion and other head injuries. Both had to be hospitalized for two weeks. In August the procuracy of Khatlon region closed the investigation into the allegations of ill-treatment as it had found "no sign of a crime" and the General Procuracy confirmed this conclusion in October.

Death penalty

President Imomali Rakhmonov declared a moratorium on death sentences and executions on 30 April. A new law, brought into force in July, set the maximum penalty in the Criminal Code at 25 years' imprisonment. However, in November parliament voted in favour of a draft law increasing the maximum penalty to life imprisonment. This law had not come into force by the end of 2004.

Relatives of those executed before the moratorium still had no right to know the location of the graves. According to domestic law, "[t]he body [of an executed prisoner] shall not be given out for burial, and the burial place shall not be disclosed."

Executions only days before the moratorium was declared brought to at least seven the number of executions carried out despite interventions by the UN Human Rights Committee. By proceeding with the executions Tajikistan violated its obligations as a party to the first Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

In August the Human Rights Committee ruled that serious violations of Tajikistan's obligations under the ICCPR had taken place in the cases of Gaybullojon Saidov and Bakhrom Khomidov, in particular that the men's trials were unfair and that their "confessions" had been extracted under torture. Gaybullojon Saidov was executed in April 2001 despite an intervention by the Committee requesting a stay of execution. Bakhrom Khomidov's death sentence was commuted to 25 years' imprisonment by the Supreme Court in September 2004.

• At least four men were executed in secret in April. The Human Rights Committee had intervened on behalf of two of them – Rachabmurod Chumayev and Umed Idiyev – urging Tajikistan to stay the executions while the Committee considered allegations that the men's trials had been unfair and that they were tortured. They had been sentenced to death in February 2003 on charges including "terrorism" and murder.