HRW: Kudratov imprisoned

Published by Human Rights Watch (Berlin) on 14 January 2015, this news release reports that on 13 January 2015 a Dushanbe court sentenced prominent Tajik human rights lawyer Shukhrat Kudratov to nine years in prison on fraud and bribery charges, following what HRW describes as a politically motivated trial. The document reports that Kudratov is also deputy head of the opposition Social Democratic Party and was named “Human Rights Defender of the Year” by the Dushanbe-based Bureau for Human Rights and the Rule of Law in 2011. The report states he was known for representing victims of police torture, those accused of “religious extremism”, and the independent news agency Asia-Plus. Steve Swerdlow, HRW Europe and Central Asia researcher, is cited. The article finds that Kudratov had served as defence counsel for Zayd Saidov, a businessman and opposition figure sentenced in December 2013 to 26 years in prison after attempting to run in the November 2013 presidential election. The report states Kudratov was arrested in July 2014; charges alleged he attempted to bribe a judge and defrauded a former client of several thousand dollars in 2012. The document reports that in April 2014 a Dushanbe court ordered Kudratov to pay approximately US$50,000 in “moral damages”. The International Commission of Jurists said in November 2014 that charges appeared “linked to his representation of a client”. The report notes Fakhriddin Zokirov, another Saidov lawyer, was arrested on fraud charges in March 2014 and released under amnesty on 3 November.