RFE/RL: Tajik activist forcibly returned from Russia faces politically motivated prosecution

The report states that human rights organisations — the Association of Central Asian Migrants, the Association for Human Rights in Central Asia, Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Norwegian Helsinki Committee — issued a joint statement on 24 February 2019 saying that Tajik and Russian officials had arbitrarily detained and forcibly returned to Tajikistan opposition activist Sharofiddin Gadoev, and calling for his release and return to the Netherlands, where he is a recognised refugee. According to the report, HRW Central Asia researcher Steve Swerdlow said Gadoev was facing “trumped-up charges in Tajikistan for his peaceful exercise of freedom of expression”. The report describes Gadoev, 33, as a member of the Europe-based National Alliance of Tajikistan and a co-founder of the banned Group-24 opposition movement, resident in the Netherlands since 2015. According to the report, sources investigating the case learned that Russian security service officers forced Gadoev into a car in Moscow on 14 February, drove him to Domodedovo Airport and placed him on a flight to Dushanbe; HRW quoted relatives as saying officers beat him in the car. The report states Tajik security officers on the flight also beat him and placed a sack over his head before delivering him to the Interior Ministry’s organised crime unit on 15 February. The report notes the government released “choreographed” videos claiming he returned voluntarily, while an earlier video published by his colleagues on 19 February stated he would never go back willingly.