HRW: Saidov long sentence blow to free expression

The report states that on 25 December 2013 a Dushanbe court sentenced Zaid Saidov, a prominent member of Tajikistan’s political opposition, to 26 years in prison after what Human Rights Watch describes as a politically motivated trial. According to the HRW news release dated 7 February 2014, Saidov — a businessman, former government official and member of Dushanbe’s city council — announced the formation of a new opposition party, New Tajikistan, on 6 April 2013, seven months before presidential elections. The report records that he received anonymous text messages with death threats shortly after the announcement, and that Department of Internal Affairs and State Committee for National Security officers pressured him to abandon the new party. It states that police arrested him at Dushanbe airport on 19 May 2013 without a warrant and held him incommunicado for 41 hours, and that the city council was instructed from President Emomali Rahmon’s office to strip his parliamentary immunity. The report says he was charged with polygamy, illegal deprivation of freedom, rape, fraud and bribery under the Tajik Criminal Code, and that court-ordered DNA tests did not confirm the rape allegation. According to the report, Saidov was largely denied access to counsel between arrest and trial, his trial was closed, the judge denied more than 50 defence motions, and state television aired stories portraying him as guilty.