Amnesty 2019: Gadoev released further information

The report states that Amnesty International issued a follow-up Urgent Action on 5 March 2019 (Index EUR 60/9957/2019) reporting that Tajik opposition leader Sharofiddin Gadoev had returned safely to the Netherlands on 2 March 2019. The report states that Gadoev had previously been held by the Tajik authorities following his arbitrary arrest in Moscow on 14 February 2019 and his forcible return to Tajikistan. The report states that the earlier Amnesty International Urgent Action, issued on 28 February 2019, had warned that Gadoev was at risk of torture and other ill-treatment while in the hands of Tajik authorities due to his membership of the opposition National Alliance coalition and of Group 24, a political movement banned by the Tajik authorities as extremist. The report states that the updated document was also made available in Spanish and French for wider circulation. The report does not provide additional detail on the circumstances under which Gadoev was released and returned to the Netherlands, nor on the role of the Russian, Tajik, or Dutch authorities in his transfer. The report frames the case as a positive outcome of international action, while implicitly illustrating the broader risks facing Tajik opposition activists abroad who can be detained in Russia and transferred back to Tajikistan despite holding protection status in European states.