Opposition Under Pressure in Tajikistan

Government pressure on opposition leaders and independent media outlets is continuing as Tajikistan looks forward to presidential elections in 2006.

President Imomali Rahmonov has tightened grip on power in recent months – a fact underscored by the landslide victory by the president's People's Democratic Party in parliamentary elections in February. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. When opposition leaders cried foul over the vote, Rahmonov simply brushed their complaints aside. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Critics of the president say Rahmonov is intent on securing another seven-year presidential term, and is thus acting to eliminate potential presidential rivals, and ensure that major mass media outlets stay largely under administration control. Administration officials dismiss such complaints.

Human rights activists and many political experts in Dushanbe believe the ongoing trial of Mahmadruzi Iskandarov -- the head of the Tajik Democratic Party and the former head of the state gas company, Tojikgaz -- is politically motivated. Iskandarov, whose trial began August 2, faces eight criminal charges, including abuse of power, embezzlement and forgery. He also alleged to have acted as a warlord, amassing arms and a small private security force that supposedly engaged in criminal activity.

On September 12, Tajikistan's Supreme Court granted a motion by Iskandarov, to call additional witnesses. Among those Iskandarov's defense team now intends to call are Gen. Saidamir Zukhurov, MP Khojiakbar Turajonzoda and Chairman of the Tourism Committee Salamsho Mukhabbatov.

In presenting the motion, Iskandarov claimed that prosecutors were trying to suppress the presentation of evidence that could help him secure an acquittal. "The witnesses who could help the defense are not taking part in the trial," Iskandarov told the court, according to a September 12 report distributed by the Avesta news agency.

Iskandarov maintains that Tajik authorities kidnapped him in Russia and brought him back to Dushanbe to stand trial. Iskandarov was originally taken into custody by Russian officials on an international arrest warrant, but he was later released on April 3. About a week later he disappeared, only to resurface in Tajik official custody. Supporters have demanded an official explanation as to how the Democratic Party leader ended up in a Dushanbe jail. Authorities have not provided a detailed account of the circumstances surrounding his arrest.

Meanwhile, the late August conviction of Mukhtar Bokizoda, editor of the opposition newspaper Nerui Sukhan, has had a chilling effect on independent journalists in Tajikistan, rights activists suggest. Bokizoda received a two-year sentence for supposedly illegally diverting electricity to keep the newspaper operating. Nerui Sukhan has not been published since early 2005, when authorities closed down the independently-operated Kaiho Publishing House for alleged tax evasion. Bokizoda insists that the charge against him was fabricated with the intention of putting the newspaper out of business.

The crackdown on independent media outlets in Tajikistan has caught the international community's attention. In early September, Miklos Haraszti, the OSCE's representative on media freedom, called on the Tajik government to "urgently reverse the [current media] situation." He noted that in addition to Nerui Sukhan, three other independent newspapers had been forced to cease operations, along with two publishing houses. Haraszti also voiced a desire for Rahmonov's administration to issue new broadcast licenses.