HRW: Mirsaidov conviction mockery of rights

The news release, issued jointly by Human Rights Watch and the Norwegian Helsinki Committee from Bishkek on 13 July 2018, reports that a Tajik court on 11 July 2018 convicted journalist Khayrullo Mirsaidov of embezzling and misusing state funds and false reporting to police and sentenced him to 12 years in prison. The document states that the regional Prosecutor General’s Office arrested Mirsaidov, 39, in Khujand, Sughd region, on 5 December 2017 on charges of embezzlement, incitement of interethnic hatred, forgery and providing false testimony; the incitement charge was later dropped. According to the release, Mirsaidov was held in pretrial detention for seven months and prosecutors issued a gag order limiting his attorneys’ access to evidence. HRW Central Asia researcher Steve Swerdlow and Norwegian Helsinki Committee representative Marius Fossum are quoted. The report cites a joint statement by the US, EU member states (including the UK, Germany and France) and OSCE Representative Harlem Desir condemning the sentence, and notes the alleged sum was 124,000 Somoni (approx. €11,521). Background details include Mirsaidov’s November 2017 open letter to President Emomali Rahmon, Prosecutor General Yusuf Rahmon and Sughd region head Abdurakhmon Kodiri alleging a US$1,000 bribe solicitation by the head of the Sughd Department of Youth and Sport. The document reports over 150 political activists remain jailed and at least 20 journalists had fled Tajikistan over two years.