Tajikistan: Challenging Amnesty Law and Act of Mutual Forgiveness

Published in Tajikistanweb.com in English and Cyrillic Persian
http://tajikistanweb.com/090308_amnestylaw.html

The death of Shamsuddin Shamsuddinov has again raised the question of commitment of the present government towards the implementation of General Agreement on Establishment of Peace and National Accord in Tajikistan signed between the Tajik government and the United Tajik Opposition (UTO) in Moscow on 27 June 1997 that led to the formal establishment of peace in Tajikistan. After four years in prison in Tajik capital, Dushanbe, Shamsuddin Shamsuddinov (55 year), a key figure of the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT) during the country's civil war of 1992-97, died in January 2008. He was denied appropriate legal assistance.

In ethno-regional political culture of Tajikistan, Shasuddinov was the only northerner to be elected as the chairman of the IRPT that was otherwise the party of the southerners. Apparently the objective was to graduate a regional party to national party and get the support of Sogdh, northern part of Tajikistan that is rich in resources.

It may be noted that one of the documents of peace agreement included Amnesty Law and Act on Mutual Forgiveness included general amnesty and forgiveness for political prisoners. In 1998, under the general amnesty, UTO submitted a list of 5,377 former combatants who were to be pardoned as part of their integration into state and military structure. The arbitrary arrests and detention of the UTO fighters remains serious problems since the establishment of formal peace. In addition, the question on reform of the power structures and the distribution of the ex-UTO personnel among them is still contested.

The gross human rights violation in Tajikistan has become a norm. The number of death penalties with unfair and secrete trials have been alarming. According to Tajik constitution, the trials are to be held in public and principle of juries is to be adopted, excluding in cases involving security or the protection of minors. In reality, the prisoners are denied fair public trial. The system of 'checks and balance’ does not exist because the judges and prosecutors are appointed, promoted and dismissed by the president with the approval of the parliament. Thus, judiciary remains under the control of the executive.

According to international observers, lack of knowledge among the people regarding the law keeps the trial unjust. In addition, lack of technical knowledge of both the judges and the prosecutors and the low wages keep the proceedings and judgments susceptible. The government undertook some corrective measures to improve the overall judicial situation by holding judges accountable for their decisions and making provisions for arresting the corrupt judges and prosecutors. But the public accountability of the government's efforts remain under critical scrutiny as many judges were found guilty but not a single one punished.

Although Tajikistan has adopted democracy as its political ideology, the legacy of communism as its political culture continues. Any opposition to the government has always been suppressed with strong armed method by the Emomali Rahmon government. For instance, criminal proceedings were initiated against Abdulmalik Abdullojonov, former Prime Minister of Tajikistan and former leader of National Revival Movement (NRM) that drew its support from the Sogdh province, his brother the former mayor of Khujand Abdulghani Abdullojonov, and former Vice President Narzullo Dustov.

On June 11, 2003, Abdujalil Hamidov, a relative of Abdulmalik Abdullajonov, was sentenced for fifteen years for misappropriation and attempted assassination of President Rahmon in 1997. Hamidov was also linked to Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. Eighteen of his supporters were also sentenced for fifteen years of imprisonment. The trials were conducted in secrecy. The request of international observers to be part of the proceedings was denied. Hamidov’s other brother Abdulkhafiz Abdullaev was sentenced to death for attempt to assassination on the President. It is likely that these efforts were aimed to eliminate the Hamidov’s family as a political force. They all were popular leaders and strongly opposed the Rahmon regime.

In the period after the formal establishment of peace, after the signing of the reconciliation agreement, the most controversial trials of the opposition leaders was of Muhammadruzi Iskandarov, a prominent field commander of UTO during the civil war and head of the Democratic Party of Tajikistan since 1999. He was one of the most popular leader and outspoken opponents of Rahmon. He was arrested in Moscow in December 2004. According to Russian Interior Ministry, the Tajik Prosecutor General’s office put Iskandarov on the international wanted list on suspicion of committing serious crimes, including terrorist acts and setting up illegal armed formations. Soon in April 2005 he was released by the Russian prosecutor general, who stated that they had no legal ground to detain him. However, he was immediately kidnapped by Tajik security services and ten days later Tajik prosecutor general announced that he was in an isolation detention camp in Dushanbe and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. According to ex-BBC reporter, “The day I interviewed Iskandarov for BBC, immediately after his release in Russia, the interview spread in Tajikistan like a wild fire in different newspapers…… Iskandarov was traded with the Tajik government and deported to Tajikistan……. In return of Iskandarov, Russia got the imperialist rights in Tajikistan.”

Apart from Iskandarov, Yakub Salimov, a former Popular Front commander, was arrested in Russia and sent to Tajikistan. He was sentenced to 15 years. Rustam Fayziev, deputy chairman of the unregistered Party of Progress was sentenced to five years; Nizomiddin Begmatov, Chairman of Socialist Democratic Party of Tajikistan was sentenced to one and a half years; and Qosim Rakhimov of IRPT remained in prison after the 2004 judgment.

Dovud and Sherali Nazriec were sentenced to death in May 2001 for attempting to assassinate Makhmadsaid Ubaydullayev, mayor of Dushanbe in February 2000. Serious doubts were raised on the fairness of the trial. These detentions, trials and verdicts were not only in violation of the International Arbitrary Detention laws but also against the peace agreement.

The conditions in the prisons remain harsh with bad sanitary conditions, overcrowded, and mistreatment during detention. Consequently, numerous prisoners commit suicide. Although there are incidences where alleged suicides remains suspicious. Suicide of Sadullo Marupov, a member of the IRP, in May 2006 raised doubts.

The Tajik government is able to maintain authoritarian rule because the Tajik opposition parties are regionally based, divided, unorganized, lack resources and remains unpopular amongst Tajik citizens due to government control over media and limited opportunities for them to propagate their policy. In addition, Rahmon is successful in portraying himself as a person who brought peace in the region and tainted the opposition for being responsible for the civil war. Consequently, no opposition movement can be sustained or demonstrations against government’s arbitrary policy can be organized. In fact, opposition to the government is often referred to as a derogatory term in Tajik society. It is because the country has recently witnessed a civil war and majority of population fear that any opposition might push them into another major crisis. Therefore opposition may not be in a position to secure support to their policies in the present social and political set-up.

There is no doubt that a strong centre and state is required for nation-building. But denying political accommodation to the opposition, in the strongly fragmented Tajik society based on ethno-regional identity, is likely to increase group resistance up to some verge beyond which extreme forces might adopt further and more violent opposition.