FDDCA: Long Arms of Dushanbe decade after Kuvvatov

The report, published 5 March 2025 by the Foundation for the Defence of Democracy in Central Asia (FDDCA) and authored by senior lawyer Jamshed Yorov, marks the 10th anniversary of the assassination of Tajik opposition leader Umarali Kuvvatov in Istanbul and documents what it calls a decade of transnational repression by the Tajik regime. According to the report, Kuvvatov — founder of the Group 24 opposition movement — was shot dead in front of his family on 5 March 2015, in what it describes as an operation by Tajik security services, marking the start of a systematic campaign against dissent abroad. The report states that Emomali Rahmon’s government has used abductions, forced extraditions, enforced disappearances, contract assaults, and pressure on relatives to silence opposition figures in Russia, Turkey, Belarus and EU countries including Poland and Germany. It names cases including Mahmadruzi Iskandarov (abducted Moscow 2005, 23-year sentence), Abdulbasit Latipov (2010), the 2012 stabbing of journalist Dodojon Atovulloev, Maksud Ibragimov (2015, 17 years), Said Qiyomidin Ghozi (2017, died in custody 2019), Naimjon Sameev (2018, 15 years), Sharofiddin Gadoev (2019, released after Dutch and German intervention), Khisbullo Shovalizoda (extradited from Austria 2020), Izzat Amon (Moscow 2021), Amriddin Alovatshoev (2022) and the Vazirbekov brothers (16 years each). The report asserts that families of exiles are held as hostages, citing pressure on Gadoev’s parents and the 2022 imprisonment of blogger Sherzod Mamadjonov’s mother. It cites Russia’s FSB, Interpol abuse, GBAO protests in May 2022 and the September 2023 Berlin egg-throwing incident (around 50 relatives detained) as escalation points. Sources cited: FDDCA reporting, ECHR rulings, UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Human Rights Watch, witness testimony.