OMCT: Sentencing of Mr. Sukhrat Kudratov

The OMCT (World Organisation Against Torture) urgent intervention “Sentencing of Mr. Sukhrat Kudratov”, dated 23 January 2015 and jointly issued by the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders with FIDH under reference TJK 001 / 0115 / OBS 003, addresses the prosecution of a prominent Tajik human rights lawyer. The report states that Sukhrat Kudratov is a human rights lawyer known for defending opposition activists, victims of police torture, and persons accused of “religious extremism”, a lawyer for the independent news agency Asia-Plus, and Deputy Director of the opposition Social Democratic Party, and that he received the local Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law’s Human Rights Defender of Tajikistan award in 2011. According to the report, on 13 January 2015 a court of the Capital City of Dushanbe sentenced Kudratov to nine years in a penal colony on charges including bribery and fraud, with Kudratov intending to appeal. The report states Kudratov had been held in pre-trial detention since 21 July 2014, when he was arrested in his office and charged with three offences including attempted bribery of a judge. The Observatory states it fears Kudratov was targeted solely for exercising his legitimate human rights activities, notably for defending Zaid Saidov, an opposition activist and former Minister of Justice arrested in November 2013 after announcing a new opposition party ahead of the December 2013 presidential elections. The report notes Kudratov is the second of Saidov’s lawyers to be detained, after Fakhriddin Zokirov was arrested in March 2014 on forgery charges and released after eight months on condition he no longer defend Saidov. The report states that six days after Kudratov issued a 15 July 2014 public letter to foreign parliaments and international human rights organisations drawing attention to violations in the Saidov trial, he was arrested. The Observatory calls for Kudratov’s immediate and unconditional release and compliance with the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders. Sources cited: OMCT/FIDH Observatory, reliable sources, UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders.