Islamic Party cell leader convicted in Tajikistan
DUSHANBE. July 31 (Interfax) - The head of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAR) branch of the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (PIVT) has been sentenced by a court in the country's Vanj District to five years of imprisonment on extremism charges, local media outlets said on Wednesday, citing the court ruling.
The Vanj District is the northernmost part of the GBAR, located 400 kilometers east of Dushanbe.
"Saodatsho Adolatov has been found guilty under Article 189 (inciting national, racial, local or religious hatred) of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Tajikistan, and sentenced to five years at a high-security prison," the verdict said.
This is the minimum penalty envisaged by this article. Article 189 is invoked in the majority of arrests on suspicion of membership in the banned religious party Hizb ut-Tahrir classed as extremist in Russia and the Central Asian countries.
"The suspect publicly offended local residents several times and created an atmosphere of hatred for one another. Adolatov's unlawful actions were reported to the relevant authorities by 30 local residents," Tajik security agencies said in a statement issued in April 2014 shortly after Adolatov's arrest.
The 40-year-old Adolatov headed up PIVT's GBAR branch in August 2013. His predecessor, Sabzali Mamadrizoyev, was killed during a government clampdown on illegal armed groups in July 2012.
"It is no secret that both members and supporters of the party are under a threat of constant slander, and the incident with Saodatsho Adolatov is no exception," the PIVT Political Council said in a statement.
"The PIVT Political Council thinks the unhealthy atmosphere created by the authorities jeopardizes safety and quiet, leading to growing distrust among people and loss of public respect for government officials," the statement said.
In February 2015 Tajikistan is due to hold parliamentary elections.
This year Tajik courts recognized the illegality of the privatization of a consumer-goods market which had in recent years been owned by the wife of parliamentarian and PIVT leader Muhiddin Kabiri, and handed over its ownership to the state without compensation. Kabiri regarded these actions as an attempt to pressurize the party in the run-up to the elections. There were several assaults on PIVT parliamentarians: they were beaten and pelted with rocks.
PIVT numbers over 40,000 supporters and is the second largest political party in the republic. PIVT is the only opposition party represented (by two of its members) in the Tajik parliament. PIVT insists that it does not aim to turn secular Tajikistan into an Islamic state.
On June 27, 2014, Tajikistan marked the 17th anniversary since the signing of the inter-Tajik agreement on peace and national accord, which put an end to the five-year civil war which killed tens of thousands of people. The then PIVT leader, Said Abdullo Nuri, led the United Tajik Opposition (OTO) which included both overtly Islamist forces and moderate democratic parties. OTO fought against the People's Front which propelled the incumbent president, Emomali Rahmon, into power.
