HRF: UN condemned kidnapping of Gadoev

The report states that the Human Rights Foundation (HRF) welcomed a determination by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) that the February 2019 kidnapping and subsequent detention of Tajik opposition activist Sharofiddin Gadoev in Russia and Tajikistan were arbitrary and in violation of international law. According to the report, the UNWGAD concluded that Russia and Tajikistan had failed to establish any legal basis for Mr Gadoev’s detention and that his detention breached Articles 6, 9, 10, 11, 19 and 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well as Articles 9, 14, 19, 25 and 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The report describes that Mr Gadoev was abducted by Russian and Tajik intelligence services in Moscow while living in exile; members of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Federal Security Service handcuffed him, wrapped his head in tape and placed a plastic bag over his head before forcing him onto a commercial flight to Dushanbe. The report states he was detained in a basement of the Tajik Ministry of Internal Affairs, where he was continuously beaten and denied access to legal representation. According to the report, his family was threatened, his father had died following torturous beatings by Tajik interrogators, and he and relatives were forced to appear in staged videos claiming he had returned voluntarily. The report notes he was released on 2 March 2019 following international intervention.