Manuchehr Kholiqnazarov, Tajikistan
I am a human rights lawyer, an advocate against injustices and the Director of the Lawyers Association of Pamir (LAP). LAP is one of the few civil society organisations in the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) that advocates for human rights. I am also a member of several platforms advocating for human rights including the Civil Society Coalition against Torture and Impunity, the Public Council on Police Reform, and the Coalition on Housing Rights, Kholiqnazarov.
On 9 December 2022, the Tajikistan Supreme Could found me guilty of participating in a criminal organization, participating in the activities of a banned organisation and sentenced me to 16 years in prison. I was initially arrested on 28 May 2022 and my trial started on 20 September of the same year. I was held behind closed doors at a detention facility of the State Committee for National Security (SCNS) in Dushanbe.
I was arrested in connection with my participation in the activities of “Commission 44” a commission made up of representatives of civil society and law enforcement agencies tasked to investigate events surrounding protests in November 2021 over the extra-judicial killing of a young person - Gulbiddin Ziyobekov. I was part of the Joint Investigation Team which was led by the Office of the Prosecutor General. I also worked with victims of the indiscriminate use of firearms by law enforcement during protests.
In May 2022, there was a renewed crackdown on protests in Khorog and Rushan District of GBAO. I was arrested alongside a dozen members of “Commission 44” and accused of participating in criminal association and publicly calling for a violent change of the constitutional order.
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 Kholiqnazarov and his colleagues.
Despite all appeals, I was sentenced to 16 years in prison on 9 December 2022.
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